- Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba in the Wicked movies
- She has been nominated for an Oscar
- The actress responded to the nomination
Every actor dreams of achieving their starring role and Cynthia Erivo did that with Wicked. Overnight she was shot into mainstream fame and praised by audiences. Erivo gained attention from Wicked playing the lead character Elphaba, a teenager picked on because of her green skin. Elphaba goes from an outcast to the Wicked Witch of The West because of her mistreatment. Although Erivo can sing, her Oscar nomination is for Best Actress In A Leading Role.
The announcements were made on January 23 at a live event hosted by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott. Erivo’s nomination comes at a good time, as Wicked was snubbed at the Golden Globes. However, not all is lost with the Oscar nominations. Wicked landed ten nominations!
Erivo’s co-star and friend Ariana Grande was also nominated for Best Actress in A Supporting Role for her role as Glinda The Good. Notably, Wicked was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects. However, Wicked’s director Jon M. Chu was not nominated for Best Director.
Read More: Ariana Grande Discusses Her First Oscar Nomination
Delighted with the news, Grande and Erivo shared their thoughts. On Instagram, the We Can’t Be Friends singer wrote: “picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition. I cannot stop crying, to no one’s surprise.” This is Grande’s first Oscar nomination. Erivo also reacted, but what did she say?
Who is Cynthia Erivo?
Aside from being our Elphaba on-screen, Erivo is a British actress. She has been an established actress for a while, starring in films like Harriet and The Outsider. She also voiced the Fairy with the Turquoise Hair in 2022’s Pinocchio, which she sang in.
Thanks to Wicked and her Oscar nomination, Erivo is booked and busy. In 2025 she’ll star in Wicked: For Good and in 2027, she will play Admiral Kaea in Children of Blood and Bone. Other Oscars she has been nominated for include Best Actress in A Leading Role in 2020 for Harriet and Best Achievement in Music Written For A Motion Picture, also for Harriet.
How did Erivo react to her Oscar nomination?
Elated, as you can imagine. According to Deadline, Erivo cried on a plane when she found out she was nominated. The flight attendant brought her tissues!
“I’ve got happy tears,” she told the outlet.
She continued: “I don’t know how to tackle this. The whole thing is madness and amazing. This is the most wonderful thing to have gone through and to experience. I’m just really pleased, it’s so cool”.
Erivo also reacted to her newfound fame, saying she is still grounded. “I’m feeling really good. I’m feeling like my feet are on the ground. I have amazing people around me. There’s not a chance I would be able to do this if I didn’t have the team that I have, and the friends that I have. I feel very, very grateful.
“It feels like the last few years kind of were like the works where you sow everything, you put the seeds in and you water them, you get everything done and then everything is sort of bearing fruit now and it’s really special. I’m so happy,” she concluded.
Staying in the Industry
The Wicked star was asked about her decision to stay in the industry amid her Oscar nomination achievement. In response, she said she was always “determined and curious” and would do whatever it took to succeed. However, she also said she felt “lost” because nobody in her family was an actor and she worked it out herself.
The Oscar nomination Instagram Statement
Erivo shared her thoughts about her Oscar nomination on Instagram.
Erivo began: “Moments like this don’t come along very often, and when they do, it is sacrilege to let them pass by without a moment of gratitude. I am grateful, grateful to @theacademy, grateful to be a part of something that makes people feel seen, grateful to be a cog in the wheel of a piece that makes us believe in magic, grateful to have experienced a dream come true and deeply, deeply grateful for this unbelievable recognition.”
The actress then spoke about her younger self, saying she had “nothing” to say to her younger self because she would be “smiling, beaming, glowing” because of her Oscar nom. Continuing, Erivo praised Grande and congratulated her on her first Oscar nomination.
Her statement concluded by thanking Chu and “Marc, Winnie, Stephen, Universal fam, Wicked fam!!!”
There isn’t a dry in the room.
Congratulations to Erivo on her Oscar nomination, and stay tuned for our updates on the 2025 Oscars.
