Cynthia Erivo is currently balancing a whirlwind of professional commitments, from performing in Phoenix, Arizona, to attending Paris Fashion Week and preparing for her role as an SNL UK guest host. Amidst this frantic schedule, she maintains a disciplined approach to her health, including the use of an infra-red sauna she says is intended to help her heal from the inside. Even amidst a busy career, Erivo confesses to having simple pleasures, noting that she finds a well-salted batch of Ruffles potato chips to be perfect. The ridged American brand Ruffles, as we sit talking in a quiet corner of a west London restaurant, c ynthia Erivo is contemplating her favourite crisps. She is known for her healthy lifestyle, but everyone, it seems, has their vices. “Ruffles are just perfect,” she says. “When you get a good batch, and the salt-to-potato ratio is perfect … it’s amazing.”, dressed all in black and sporting her signature elongated nails. All that requires discipline – and snacks – to keep the show on the road. But you’ve not picked up a Shakespeare before, you now have to learn a new language, if you’re a kid who is just really talented.
Her latest project brings her to a pivotal role in the legal drama Prima Facie. This film is an adaptation of Suzie Miller’s powerful one-woman play, which previously gained significant acclaim with Jodie Comer in the lead in 2022. When asked if she felt hesitant about taking on a character so closely linked to another actor, Erivo dismisses such concerns, noting she frequently receives the question but remains focused on making the role of the barrister Tessa entirely her own. Only her own prepacked meals, erivo doesn’t drink alcohol (today she orders some peppermint tea); she’s vegan; she doesn’t eat airline food. The pair actually met at a fashion dinner and spoke about the role – “Not asking any tips or anything” – and Erivo insists she was always going to make Tessa her own. “I’m never worried about what someone else has done,” she says. “I try to be respectful.”. In her forthcoming memoir, Erivo recalls being asked at Rada to sing the parts of a white student who was ill, but rather than being replaced was allowed to mime along. “The powers that be took my voice away and gave it to someone else,” is how she described it.
The film follows Tessa, a rising-star barrister who has made a career out of defending men accused of sexual violence. She is adept at navigating the courtroom, often identifying inconsistencies in victim testimony that render the prospect of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt nearly impossible. Her perspective is radically altered when she experiences sexual assault at the hands of a colleague, forcing her to confront the same legal machinery she once navigated with ease.
Suzie Miller, who draws on her own experience as a former barrister, noted that the narrative reflects the stark reality that winning a sexual assault case is an immense challenge. According to Rape Crisis data, roughly one in four women may experience sexual assault, yet only 2.7% of reported cases result in conviction. Erivo argues that the systemic issues are compounded by a societal failure to clearly define consent, describing the current cultural consensus as wishy-washy when it should be absolute. According to when Tessa is raped by a colleague, her world implodes and it’s made clear just how brutal the British justice system can be for women, who, according to Rape Crisis, have a one in four chance of being sexually assaulted, while only 2.7% of, Rapes result in charges being brought. According to tessa,, Erivo, doesn’t see how hard it is for anyone to recall traumatic events in detail, or how lopsided the system is, until it’s swallowing her whole. “I don’t think she realises that until she’s on the other side. And the bigger question of consent, which is something Erivo thinks is often far simpler than it seems. “I think we’re very wishy-washy when it comes to what consent is, when we shouldn’t be,” she says, leaning forward. “It’s very clear what consent is: if a person isn’t conscious, or conscious enough to say yes, they’re not saying, the film’s central struggle is twofold: the legal system victims have to navigate.
Erivo emphasizes that the core of the issue is simple: if someone is unconscious, they cannot provide consent. She hopes the film acts as a catalyst for meaningful discussion, particularly within the legal profession and among those who influence judicial outcomes. She has observed interest from both lawyers and judges regarding the film’s portrayal of these systemic failures. That’s a big shift from doing plays at school.”.
This drive for systemic change is rooted in Erivo’s own journey from her upbringing in Clapham to the stages of the West End and Broadway. T essa’s rise through the legal ranks as a working-class Black woman mirrors Erivo’s ascent through the West End, Broadway and Hollywood.
Her experience at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) was defined by exhaustion, as she had to balance multiple jobs just to afford her education. During her time there, she famously had to turn down a lucrative £10,000 backing singer gig for Westlife because the registrar would not permit her the time off, a decision that highlights the rigid and often exclusionary nature of traditional arts training. After arriving at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada), Erivo had to traverse a strange world, deeply rooted in tradition and privilege that she wasn’t exposed to growing up in south London. Including working every imaginable role at the Stratford East theatre, while classmates with means simply had to turn up. “I was exhausted all the time,” she says. “We’re in the classes, and it’s a Monday; I’ve worked all day on a Sunday, and probably done a gig at night, and I’ve come in, she held down three jobs. Erivo tells me the story about how she had to turn down a backing singer gig with Westlife that would have lasted two weeks and paid her £10,000 – enough for a couple of years’ tuition. “When I went to the registrar to say, ‘Hey, can I take these two weeks to go and do this. According to erivo, The incident showed how at Rada there could often be “a deep misunderstanding of what it is like to need money”, which is something she is trying to address in the role she has held since 2024 as vice-presiden. Later publishing an anti-racism action plan and appointing David Harewood president alongside Erivo, in 2020 Rada apologised for institutional racism. But also the subtler demands of R&B, it’s a tool capable of the grandstanding volume needed for musical theatre.
Classmates like James Norton have reflected on her early talent, recalling how she would occasionally break into song, leaving the room silent. She eventually channeled this talent into a breakout performance as Celie in the 2015 Broadway production of The Color Purple. Her career has since expanded across film and television, including notable appearances in Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum and Mr Selfridge, leading up to her current high-profile projects. But things shifted again in 2018 when Erivo starred in Steve McQueen’s take on the Lynda La Plante, all-female heist story W, before Broadway she’d had fleeting TV roles in Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum and in Mr Selfridge.
Erivo also reflects on the pressures of being in the public eye, particularly following incidents where she felt her autonomy was challenged. She recalled a recent incident on a red carpet where she was described as a protector for a fellow celebrity, an interpretation she rejected as a dismissal of her own humanity. She expressed frustration at the expectation that public figures should silently endure abuse, stating that the tendency to tear people apart for acting in a naturally human way has gone too far.
Whether she is running the London Marathon—which she did earlier this year before heading straight to perform in Dracula, having rehearsed her lines during training runs—or dissecting complex social issues, Erivo remains committed to authentic expression. She views the criticism or scrutiny she faces as a double-edged sword, noting that she has navigated her career by staying true to her work and rejecting the limitations others attempt to place upon her. Where she played all 23 parts; she had rehearsed her lines while going on gruelling marathon training runs, earlier this year she ran the London Marathon before jumping on stage to perform Dracula.
