Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in a scene from Wicked, looking into the camera with a slight smile
(Universal)

‘I genuinely had to work much harder than other students’: Cynthia Erivo dishes on her experience at RADA

Cynthia Erivo is at the height of her acting powers right now, with her starring role in Wicked nabbing her an Oscar nomination and a huge fandom who celebrate all she does. That said, it wasn’t necessarily easy getting to that point. Back in 2007, when Erivo was a student of the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), she struggled immensely.

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In a recent interview with The Guardian, Erivo discussed classism and racism while studying. Journalist Zoe Williams explains the vibe thusly: “Erivo doesn’t describe her experience [at RADA] in [racial] terms, but hearing her talk about it, the only way you’d call it ‘not racist’ is if you said: ‘Not just racist, also classist.’” However, it’s important to note that that quote isn’t directly from the actress’ mouth, and it’s worth noting that Erivo doesn’t seem to bear any grudge against RADA. In fact, she’s currently vice president of the institution, with David Harewood serving as president.

With that in mind, she does, however, remember the deck being stacked against her as a Black, working-class woman. At the beginning of her time of RADA, she succeeded in an audition to be a backing-singer for the popular band Westlife. The money from that would have “paid off everything,” but because it would mean missing two weeks of studies, RADA wouldn’t let her go. “The people running the place don’t necessarily understand people who aren’t given everything. They don’t understand what that experience looks like,” Erivo suggested in regards to the matter.

In order to support herself, Erivo eventually took a job at shirt-maker Thomas Pink, but balancing work and studies proved to be difficult. “I genuinely had to work much harder than other students, and I got penalized for it. I’d come in exhausted, and they’d say: ‘Well, she’s not dedicated. She’s not concentrating.’ It took me a long time to make people understand that I wasn’t lazy – I was just tired.”‘

As a result of this, Erivo only won small parts in the student performances that potential agents would attend. “First, it was because they thought I wasn’t concentrating. It was like a punishment. The second time, I can’t even remember the excuse. The third year, the excuse was, they thought I was ‘efficient’ and other people needed more help.” Eventually, Erivo won an agent by putting her own show. We all know where the story goes from there – she got bigger and bigger parts over the years before finally being handed the hat of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Of course, just because she recognizes the problems at RADA doesn’t mean she’s exactly bitter. “I’ve never really talked about this before. I’ve never really talked about how tough my journey has been. I think I’m just so grateful, and you take the good with the bad,” she said. “Learning what I needed to learn at RADA meant that I could learn what I needed to learn in theater, and learning what I learned in theater meant I knew what to do on Broadway, and that’s set me up for TV and film.”

Now, as vice president of the organization, Erivo is in a position to improve things for the current batch of students hoping for stardom. When she stepped into the role in 2024, she said, “My hope is that I can play a valuable role in strengthening the new talent of tomorrow.” But RADA has a long history of racism, and Harewood said in 2024 that an arts education was not yet “accessible to all.” Unfortunately, these things take a long time to change.


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Sarah Barrett
Sarah Barrett (she/her) is a freelance writer with The Mary Sue who has been working in journalism since 2014. She loves to write about movies, even the bad ones. (Especially the bad ones.) The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and the Star Wars prequels changed her life in many interesting ways. She lives in one of the very, very few good parts of England.