‘The people running the place don’t necessarily understand people who aren’t given everything,’ she said. Cynthia Erivo has opened up about her experience of classism at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, stating that the school “penalised” her for her personal background.
![[Erivo stars as Elphaba Thropp in ‘Wicked’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/05/Awards_Season_85893.jpg)
Erivo, 38, has enjoyed huge success with the record-breaking musical film Wicked, in which she stars as the lead Elphaba Thropp alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good. The star was appointed vice president of the prestigious institution last year. She graduated in 2010, after transferring from the University of East London a year into a music psychology degree.
After winning an audition to be a backing-singer for Westlife, Erivo explained that she had been offered £10,000 as a fee, which would have “paid off everything”. In order to take the job, however, she would have to miss the first two weeks of her course, which her school did not permit.
“The people running the place don’t necessarily understand people who aren’t given everything,” she said. “They don’t understand what that experience looks like. “There was another student in a play, missing two weeks, and that was fine; it was just weird looking down on a backing-vocals gig.”.
Erivo instead worked for shirtmaker Thomas Pink throughout her time on the course, leaving her feeling depleted. “I genuinely had to work much harder than other students, and I got penalised for it,” she said. “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.”.
