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After the year she’s had, there can be few people left who don’t know Cynthia Erivo. Wicked – the Wizard of Oz prequel in which she plays Elphaba – was one of the biggest films of 2024 and has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Erivo.

Born in Stockwell, London, in 1987, Erivo has become a huge global star. She’s won an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony, and has now been nominated for three Oscars. On This Cultural Life, Erivo tells John Wilson all about her extraordinary rise. Here are eight things we learned.

Erivo has been musical almost since birth. “My mum said I was singing when I was a baby – definitely when I was around two – but I can’t remember that far back,” she says. “I think I realised I could make a sound that was pleasurable when I was about 11.”

2. Her dad ended contact with her when she was a teenager

In her earliest years, Erivo remembers her family “had a good time”. Then her dad left the family when Erivo was small. When she was 16, he said he wanted to end contact completely.

John Wilson and Cynthia Erivo

“Mum was really good about making sure we still had sort of a relationship with our dad when we were quite young, and then the choice was his… to end that,” she says. “I think it made me quite angry as a teenager. I sought out a way to prove that I was loveable, that I was good enough to be loved. Some of my determination was about proving myself. Over time I’ve had to change what that is… I’ve found ways to love what I do for me.”

3. She only applied to drama college because she was pushed into it

Erivo enjoyed music and drama at school, but her first role came by accident, when she accompanied a friend to an audition for a production of Romeo and Juliet. “I was there to support my friend,” she says. “I was 15… [They said] ‘Why don’t you audition as well? You’re here, you might as well.’ So I said, ‘OK, I’ll try.’ I ended up playing Juliet.”

The person who’d encouraged her to audition, director Rae McKen, came into Erivo’s life again later, when she wanted to join a young actors company at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. McKen, who saw Erivo’s great talent, said she’d only let her in if she auditioned for RADA, the UK’s most prestigious drama school.

“I said, ‘No. I’m not going to apply for a place called the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts. I’m not going to get in.. She said, ‘Well, then you can’t join this class.’” Erivo applied. She got in. She’s now Vice President of RADA.

4. She had a breakdown on stage while playing her breakthrough role

Erivo’s big break came in the 2013 stage musical The Colour Purple, about an African-American woman living a hard life in the segregated South in the early 1900s. The production opened in London, then moved to Broadway. “It was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had,” says Erivo.

“It was really challenging. I had to figure out a way to process it every day. We did… over 300 performances. You’re called ugly every day. After night 100, the line between you and the character becomes very, very thin. It doesn’t feel like the character. It feels like you.”

In one performance, it overwhelmed her. “I had a breakdown on stage once. The words wouldn’t come out… I couldn’t speak. All I could do was cry.” Her extraordinary performance won her a Tony.

5. Fashion is her armour

Erivo’s known for her avant-garde fashion, and particularly her very long, jewelled nails. She says her dramatic looks are “not because I want to make a statement for other people. It’s what I feel like on the day. Sometimes it’s understated and monochromatic… sometimes it’ s really bright and colourful… It’s like armour. I like being a small person (she’s 5’1”), but I think there’s something about clothes that can take up a little bit of room.”

6. She was obsessed with Wicked before she’d seen it

Erivo was familiar with Wicked’s songs long before she knew the story. “I first heard of it when I was at drama school,” she says. “Whenever I was having the odd bad day, a friend of mine… would grab a bunch of librettos from the library and would sit at a piano and just play. He’d always pick up Wicked. By the time I left drama school, I knew the music like the back of my hand, but I had not seen the show. I left drama school at 23. It would take another year before I could afford to go and get a ticket. It was on my 25th birthday that I went to see the show.” 10 years later, she was cast in the film.

7. She had to change how she sings for Wicked

Erivo says she’s “lucky” that adapting her voice for different styles and roles comes fairly easily, but she faced a major challenge for Wicked. She sang live on set throughout the production. For the climactic number, Defying Gravity, that meant singing while strapped in a harness and flying through the air.

“That was very, very hard,” she says. “The first time you do it, everything feels out of whack.” And it wasn’t just the flying. “Add corsetry, something that restricts your breathing and restricts your diaphragm.” She had to find different ways to breathe. “Instead of using just the front part of my body and my lungs, I could access my back and my sides, to create more space in my body for breath.”

8. She wants to be Cleopatra

Erivo says the thing that drives her on is “Challenge. Things that scare me and force me to learn something new.” One thing she’d love to try is Shakespeare, which she hasn’t performed since that first role. “I would love to play Amelia (in Othello) or Cleopatra… I say it because that’s petrifying. And that’s why I want to do it.”