Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba has micro-braids. They’re new for the character, who was made iconic on Broadway with straight hair under the pointy hat. But when Erivo was cast in the film version of Wicked (planned as a two-part series), her first ask was for the witch to have a textured hairstyle. “It connects to who I am underneath the skin,” Erivo says. “There’s a complete connection between me and her—we’re not just erasing who’s playing this character.”
Helping to create this Elphaba—from her freckles to her eye color and nails—was a detailed process that “allowed me to really fall in love with this woman,” Erivo tells me as we’re seated on a couch at the Equinox Hotel in New York. It’s not an opportunity she would have ever envisioned for herself. There has never been a full-time Black Elphaba on Broadway; Alexia Khadime remains the only Black woman to hold that distinction, from her London West End run (2008–2010; 2023–present). “Why would that change for the film? I couldn’t even dream about wanting it,” Erivo says. “When you’re in this skin and you walk around, you are immediately an ‘other.’ It was a really wonderful experience to be able to step into this role, outside of my own skin, and into someone else’s, who has also been ‘othered.’ It’s important to know what it feels like. I hope that this shifts and changes things across stages.”
Born and raised in the Stockwell neighborhood of London, Erivo trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before appearing as Deloris Van Cartier in the U.K. tour of the Sister Act musical. She had small roles in Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum and detective thriller The Tunnel, after landing the role of Celie Harris in the 2013 revival of The Color Purple in London’s West End. When the show moved to Broadway more than two years later, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She also won a Daytime Emmy for The Color Purple’s cast performance on The Today Show and a Grammy for the cast album. “When I played the role in London, it changed the way people saw me there,” Erivo explains. “When I did it on Broadway, that jump started everything.”
Erivo then went from stage to screen, racking up awards along the way. For her portrayal of Harriet Tubman in Harriet, she earned her first two Academy Award nominations, for Best Actress and Best Original Song. She is now one award away from the coveted EGOT. Up next, she’s finishing her second original album; focusing on her own production company, Edith’s Daughter; making a guest appearance in the next season of Peacock’s Poker Face; and, of course, embarking on another press tour for Wicked: Part Two. The movie-musical franchise allows Erivo to bring her theatrical roots to the screen in a robust way, singing live and doing her own stunts. “It’s so strange, because I feel like I was leading right here without realizing this is where I was heading,” she says. “I don’t believe that everything happens just by chance. I’m also aware of how much of a gift this is. I’m so glad for the experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, because I learned a lot about myself.”
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked.
On working with Ariana Grande
I’ve gained a sister. At this point, we speak almost every day. Both of us were blown away by how connected we were immediately. I remember the first day we got to come together. It was at [director] Jon M. Chu’s house, and Stephen Schwartz [who wrote Wicked’s music and lyrics for both the OG Broadway musical and the film] was over. He played some songs for us, and we sang together for the first time. It worked. It’s a very intimate thing to sing with someone. There’s a really beautiful dance—I need to follow you, you have to follow me. It was one of the most gratifying things to know that there was someone who was that open and available, because she was, and that meant I could be as well.
We also had a beautiful relationship offscreen. We had really beautiful conversations, some that were not easy, but that’s what makes relationships. Those hard conversations that you can have with someone that mean that you have to be vulnerable are the things that make you close.
On staying true to herself
I don’t know that I had the language when I was a kid. I knew I wanted to be an actress. I knew I wanted to be a singer. I knew I wanted to be successful. Those are the things that were very clear to me. I don’t know that I would have imagined it like this. It’s wonderful, not just because of the things that it comes with, but because I got to do it as me. To be at this point and to feel very much like myself, and to be also open to whatever growth may come, feels really wonderful.
Jacket, shirt, pants, bow, Nina Ricci by Harris Reed. Hat, Esenshel. Necklace, Dolce & Gabbana. Pumps, Marc Jacobs.
On the women in Hollywood who have impacted her
Michelle Yeoh, because of how active and physical she is, and because she’s been able to combine dramatic acting with stunts and physicality. Whenever I’m around her, I’m like the kid who’s at her feet, saying, “Tell me everything, I want to know everything.” She just has so much knowledge, and she’s so welcoming. Cicely Tyson. The daring, the wanting to keep playing, to keep expanding and trying different things—different characters, different styles. At one point, she was bald herself, and she made the decision to just shave it all off. I just love that, and I think it’s probably what inspired my decision to shave my head, which is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for myself. Barbra Streisand, because she’s a true Renaissance woman. To be able to direct, to act, to sing, to write, to do all of those things and do them spectacularly. She’s just one of those women who are totally themselves, and I’m in love with that. Viola Davis, just because she keeps going from strength to strength. She still has a hunger in her. These different women who have chosen to keep playing, keep trying, keep doing different things.
On the intersection between her queer and Catholic identities
I have a deep belief that God makes people as they’re meant to be. The rules for themselves that people put upon others have nothing to do with me and my faith. I can’t allow narrow thinking that some Christians or Catholics have of what faith is to affect how vast I think faith can be. Faith is so big—so much bigger than set rules. As time changes, we are also meant to change. If me loving someone makes you upset, then we have to refocus. I think the main rule that we’re all supposed to follow is to love one another as you would love yourself. That’s it. That’s the big overarching thing. Am I making space to care for other people, be kind to other people, be as good to other people as I would have other people be to me? If those are the things I’m following, then I think I’m following my faith.
Cape, earrings, Schiaparelli Haute Couture. Hat, Esenshel.
On being painted green every day
They created a green specifically for me. It was literally “Cynthia Green.” Depending on how much green we were doing—head, chest, hands, full body—it could take up to four hours. Everything was particular, right down to my eyebrows. [My makeup artist] created a vacuum form so the freckles would stay in the same place every day. I have a million piercings, so they brought in a prosthetic artist, who created basically a shell for my ears—those aren’t my ears!
On doing her own stunts and singing live
I was up at six o’clock in the morning on my treadmill training. I would run and sing on the treadmill. I was always making sure that my body was ready. I needed to get my body used to being on wires [for the flight scenes]. There’s a thrill that I got from it. I enjoyed the powerfulness of being able to get on a wire and be flipped upside down. It’s not going to go right the first time—maybe the second or third—and that’s okay.
Cape, earrings, Schiaparelli Haute Couture. Hat, Esenshel.
On the duet she’d love to do with Ariana Grande
I feel like I want to find a Whitney [Houston] number and split it in two. “Run to You” could be really beautiful together.
On the project that’s taught her the most
It’s a toss-up between Harriet and The Outsider [the 2020 HBO miniseries based on the Stephen King novel of the same name]. On The Outsider, I had to use different tools for that character, and tools that I didn’t know that I had until I had to use them. That was a real up-and-down time for me while shooting, because it was not easy at all. The conditions were insane. We were in the middle of nowhere. We shot in a cave. I got terribly, terribly ill. It was bad, but I loved that character so much.
Harriet really taught me about resilience, patience, and strength. And it also taught me about the lengths I would go for the characters that I play. I was willing to do whatever it took to make her sing. I was willing to do whatever it took to make her three-dimensional and real. I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that I understood and everybody else understood what this character had gone through. When I was told we have to do a scene where you cross in the water up to your neck, I was like, “Great, I’m going to cross in the water up to my neck.” “Do you want a wet suit underneath?” “No, I do not. If I have a wet suit underneath, you’re not going to get the reaction you’re supposed to get from me if I have a little warmth. I want to feel what that feels like as I’m walking in the water.”
On how she takes care of herself
I have really good people around me. I am learning to say no to the things that I really cannot do. But it’s about body, mind, and soul. I need to work out. I have to watch the things that I put in my body. I do things that give me joy just for me. People go shopping, but I go shopping because I love shopping. I love fashion. Those things feed my soul.
Lead Image: Jacket, skirt, belt, Louis Vuitton. Earrings, Harry Winston.
Makeup by Keita Moore at the Only Agency; manicure by Gina Oh; produced by Dana Brockman at Viewfinders.
A version of this story appears in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of ELLE.
This story is part of ELLE’s 2024 Women in Hollywood portfolio. Click the link below for all the cover stories.
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Samuel is the Associate Editor at ELLE Magazine. Prior to this role, he was the Assistant to ELLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Nina Garcia. At ELLE, Samuel writes about music, fashion, arts, and culture, interviewing Normani, Lola Tung, Sara Bareilles, Kelli O’Hara, Nicholas Galitzine, Tate McRae, and more. Raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Samuel attended Northwestern University and currently resides in New York City.
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