Cynthia Erivo forced to give up £10,000 job singing for Westlife for heartbreaking reason
Cynthia Erivo forced to give up £10,000 job singing for Westlife for heartbreaking reason
Share:
Cynthia Erivo has revealed for the first time that she was forced to give up a £10,000 job which would have seen her sing alongside Westlife. The star of stage and screen, 38, has had a whirlwind year, starring in the hit movie musical Wicked and receiving an Oscar nomination for her work.
Starring Cynthia as Elphaba Thropp opposite Ariana Grande-Butera’s Galinda Upland, Wicked has been an enormous success at the box office and has also been nominated for the Academy Award for best picture. It marks a crowning moment in Cynthia’s 15-year career, which began in earnest with TV shows such as Chewing Gum and stage appearances in productions like Marine Parade.
![[Childline Concert In Dublin, Eire - Jan 1999]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-566901411.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=594)
However, things didn’t always go Cynthia’s way, with the Bad Times at the El Royale star revealing that an unfortunate experience at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art left her making a heartbreaking decision. Cynthia attended RADA in the 2000s, eventually graduating in 2010 at the age of 23 after transferring across from the University of East London.
![[JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - DECEMBER 05: Cynthia Erivo attends the Opening Ceremony at the Red Sea International Film Festival 2024 on December 05, 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_232082713-1f96.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
By 2020, her star had risen, and she became RADA’s first ever actor of colour to be named as the school’s vice president – RADA apologised for ‘systemic racism,’ both historic and current. Speaking to The Guardian this week, Cynthia has claimed the problems went much deeper and were rooted in class as much as they were rooted in race.
![[Royal Acadamy Dramatic Art (RADA), London, United Kingdom]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-976044596.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=594)
