Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia Erivo is a bisexual British actress and singer who publicly spoke about her LGBTQ+ identity in a 2022 British Vogue interview, saying that LGBTQ+ people "love differently and express ourselves differently" — a quiet but meaningful claim of membership in the community. She has since spoken with increasing openness about her queerness and its relationship to how she inhabits the characters she plays. Erivo is one of the most decorated performers of her generation: a Tony Award winner for originating Celie in the Broadway revival of "The Color Purple" (2016), an Academy Award nominee for playing Harriet Tubman in "Harriet" (2019), and the star of the blockbuster film adaptation of "Wicked" (2024), in which she played Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande. Her portrayal of Elphaba — an outsider who refuses to be diminished — was widely read by queer audiences as a profoundly resonant LGBTQ+ narrative. Erivo has spoken about her belief that artists who are members of marginalized communities bring irreplaceable depth to stories about belonging and transformation.