Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo (born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter.
She is known for her performance as Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program, the latter two she shared with the rest of the cast.
Erivo ventured into films in 2018, with roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. In 2019, she portrayed abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet, for which she earned nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Grammys honor Taylor Hawkins, Stephen Sondheim and more ‘In Memoriam’
nypost.compassed way at 50 just last Friday.“This was the moment in the show when I was supposed to be introducing the Foo Fighters,” host Trevor Noah announced before launching an extended intro tribute to the beloved rock musician. “We would have been celebrating with them as they won three Grammy awards earlier today.
But they, of course, are not here due to the passing of their legendary drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Our thoughts go out to Taylor’s family, his friends, his Foo Fighter family and all his fans.” Upon the announcement of Hawkins’ death, his bandmates revealed they’d be canceling their Grammys performance as well as the rest of their tour to “heal.”“We want to figure out what is the right thing to do that is respectful to everyone involved,” Jack Sussman, executive vice president of specials, music, and live events at CBS, told Variety at the time.The awards show vowed to “honor his memory in some way” — and they delivered with the moving video montage of his career.The Grammys also paid major tribute to the late and legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, who one of the most important people in the history of musical theater.Multiple award winners Leslie Odom Jr.
of “Hamilton,” Cynthia Erivo of “The Color Purple,” and Ben Platt of “Dear Evan Hansen” joined forces Rachel Zegler of “West Side Story” to honor the deceased music industry pros by performing Sondheim’s “Not a Day Goes By,” “Send in the Clowns” and “Somewhere.”A beautiful tribute by beautiful artists.
Thank you for this incredibly special moment, @leslieodomjr, @rachelzegler, #CynthiaErivo, #BenPlatt: https://t.co/cqASdMS8yI #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/msS84NJjZMAs the four musical artists took the stage to sing the iconic ballads, a slideshow of those.
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