11 Cynthia Erivo Roles You Probably Forgot She Played Before Wicked

Cynthia Erivo is the woman of the hour right now, thanks to her leading performance in the movie musical Wicked.

The British actor has received a wave of praise for her performance as Elphaba, and is even among the favourites to win an Oscar next year.

Before landing her part in Wicked, Cynthia’s career was mostly in the theatre, although she did pop up in the odd film and some of your favourite TV shows, too.

Most notably, she earned an Oscar nomination for her leading performance in the biopic Harriet, as well as an extra nod for her contribution to the soundtrack.

Here are 11 key shows and movies you might well have forgotten that Cynthia appeared in before she became synonymous with Defying Gravity…

Chewing Gum (2015)

Having already made a name for herself as a stage performer, Cynthia made the move to screen acting in 2015, playing a pious school friend of Michaela Coel’s character in the first season of Chewing Gum.

Incidentally, Cynthia isn’t the only member of the Wicked cast to have previously acted in the short-lived Channel 4 sitcom, as Jonathan Bailey appeared in one very memorable season two storyline, too.

Mr Selfridge (2016)

Putting her vocal abilities to good use, Cynthia played jazz singer Alberta Hunter in two episodes of the ITV period drama a year after her Chewing Gum role.

Mr Selfridge ran for three seasons and starred Jeremy Piven as Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of the iconic London department store.

The Tunnel (2016)

A smaller role followed in the British remake of the hit Nordic noir drama The Bridge, retitled The Tunnel.

Cynthia appeared in one episode as a pharmacist named Mel, offering some help to William Ash’s character, Boleslaw “BB” Borowski.

Broad City (2017)

By 2017, Cynthia had already made a huge name for herself in the theatre world thanks to her performance on Broadway in The Color Purple, which led to her winning a Tony, Emmy and Grammy.

Around this time, she also landed a small role in the sitcom du jour Broad City as the manager of an Anthropologie where Abbi got herself a job. She obviously impressed the team as her character made an appearance in the final season two years later.

Widows (2018)

When it came to her very first on-screen role, Cynthia didn’t exactly do things by halves, sharing the screen with Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez and true screen icon Viola Davis in Steve McQueen’s Widows.

Cynthia played Belle, the babysitter of Michelle’s character’s children, who winds up being swept up in the heist at the centre of the main plot.

Bad Times At The El Royale (2018)

Come on, why have Cynthia Erivo in your cast and not make use of her incredible vocals, right?

In Bad Times At The El Royale, Cynthia played the soul singer Darlene Sweet, appearing as part of a star-studded ensemble cast that also included Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny and Nick Offerman.

The Boss Baby: Back In Business (2018)

Yes, we promise this really happened.

Not content with bewildering the world in its big screen version, Boss Baby was later spun-off into the animated series Back In Business, in which Cynthia voiced Turtleneck Superstar CEO Baby.

We don’t know what this means and, frankly, we don’t care to find out.

Strictly Come Dancing (2021)

Don’t worry, there wasn’t a Strictly line-up with Cynthia Erivo on that you’ve totally forgotten about. She did briefly appear on the judging panel, though.

Shortly after she was cast in Wicked, Cynthia was drafted in to fill in for Craig Revel Horwood during the show’s annual Musicals Week special. Initially, it was supposed to be a one-off, but when Motsi Mabuse was required to isolate the following week, Cynthia returned to the panel.

Are we still bitter that she only gave AJ Odudu a 9 for a performance that was clearly a 10? Maybe…

Pinocchio (2022)

Walt Disney’s animated version of Pinocchio is nightmare fuel enough as it is, so if you swerved the live-action remake (directed by Robert Zemeckis, no less) when it came out in 2022, we can’t say we’d have blamed you.

If you did, you missed Cynthia’s key appearance as the Blue Fairy, alongside Tom Hanks as Gepetto and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket.

Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)

The feature-length version of Luther had a lot of hype to live up to – and who better to deliver on that than a dependable pair of hands like Cynthia?

She starred in Fallen Sun as Odette Raine, the head of the Serious and Serial Crime Unit (SSCU) intent on tracking down Idris’ character.

I Can’t Sing! The X Factor Musical (2014)

Alright, so we’ve mostly swerved Cynthia’s theatre career on this list, simply because it’s so expansive. But we couldn’t not mention her leading role in Harry Hill’s short-lived musical I Can’t Sing!, which parodied The X Factor (which was almost still a TV phenomenon at the time).

Cynthia played the main character Chenice, a singer with big dreams but confidence issues. She and the rest of the cast performed the title song (including the savage lyric “Had no idea, I didn’t think I could, I thought I made Geri Halliwell sound good”) at the Royal Variety Performance in 2014.

Wicked is in cinemas now. Read our review of the film here.