Wicked star Cynthia Erivo says London drama school RADA dismissed her as 'lazy'

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Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has criticised her time at the prestigious London drama school she attended, saying teachers often dismissed her as 'lazy' - when actually she was just exhausted because she working to pay for her fees. 

The 38-year-old, who's been nominated for Best Actress at the upcoming Oscars ceremony for her role as Elphaba in the first installment of Wicked, told The Guardian that the global success she's currently enjoying didn't come easy.

The star graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, known as RADA, in 2010 with a BA in acting - and is now the institution's Vice President - but says her time there didn't go entirely smoothly.

She said during her first year, it was implied she was 'lazy' - and she was given 'tiny parts' in productions by way of punishment.  

Erivo, who was born in London's Stockwell, had a job throughout the course, working at shirtmaker Thomas Pink, and says she was simply tired. 

She told the newspaper: 'I genuinely had to work much harder than other students, and I got penalised 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.” 

The star says she was served up another reason for being given lesser parts by the time she was in her third year, saying RADA told her she was 'efficient' and others needed the experience of bigger roles. 

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has reflected on her time as a student at London's most famous drama school, RADA, saying that she felt she was seen as 'lazy' by some at the school

RADA drama school in central London; alumni Cynthia Erivo became the institution's first Vice President in 2024, alongside President David Harewood 

Speaking to The Guardian, Erivo said she was actually just tired while studying, because she had a job at shirtmakers Thomas Pinks throughout, which helped fund her course

She praised her acting coach at the establishment though, the late teacher Dee Cannon, saying she 'really understood what I was' and urged her to not conform to the 'strong, black stereotype', suggesting she was more suited to showing vulnerability. 

Last year actor David Harewood became RADA's first black president - four years after the prestigious school admitted it was 'institutionally racist'. He replaced Sir Kenneth Branagh who had been in post for nine years.

In July 2020, in response to Black Lives Matter protests, RADA admitted to being 'institutionally racist' and apologised for 'the role we have played in the traumatic and oppressive experiences of our current and past Black students, graduates and staff.'

RADA said it needed 'radical change' to 'create an anti-racist culture and institution.' To follow through with this commitment, RADA introduced a Institutional Anti-Racism Action Plan in 2022.

Erivo shot to fame in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple five years after she graduated, earning a Tony Award, but it is the retelling of how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West in the film adaptation of Gregory Maguire's book that has seen her achieve worldwide fame. 

On The Graham Norton Show last week, Erivo's co-star Ariana Grande opened up about one of the biggest moments from the Wicked press tour. 

The 'holding space' phenomenon came after Grande and Erivo discussed Wicked: Part One's closing number, Defying Gravity, with journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist for Out Magazine. 

Gilchrist claimed fans were 'taking the lyrics' and 'really holding space with that.' In the original clip, Erivo puts a hand over her chest while looking shocked and replies: 'I didn't know that was happening. That's really powerful. That's what I wanted.'

Cynthia said she found out about her Oscar nomination while on an airplane flying from London to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival

The moment saw the pair discussing Wicked: Part One's closing number, Defying Gravity, with journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist for Out Magazine - who claimed fans were 'taking the lyrics' and 'really holding space with that' 

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But now Grande, 31, has shared her thoughts on what went down during the press junket - as she revealed she had 'no idea what the f*** was going on'. 

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, the singer said: 'It was just a really strange thing. I was grateful to see the reaction of the world when this clip came out, because I was like "Oh great! I'm not broken".

'They felt weird too. They felt so confused too, and that's great.' 

Keen to hear more about the moment, that quickly became a viral meme, Graham asked: 'Of course it's not just a hit film, it's become a sort of cultural obsession. It seems like people are pouring over everything about, the movie, the press tour.

'Oh no where are you going?' Ariana asked, as Graham continued: 'You know what I'm gonna ask you ask about. I've heard you talk about this. So "holding space"... so describe what happened. You and Cynthia, you're in a press junket and what was the actual question? Or was it a question?'

Ariana replied: 'Oh no. Yeah. It's hard to say. I don't really know what it was, so... oh my god I've never been asked to described what happened. 

'So this wonderful woman Tracy was interviewing us, and she's amazing, and we love her so much, she's a queen and she's so kind and she's an icon. 

But she said to Cynthia "I have seen online" - and forgive me if I don't quote it perfectly, but she said - "I saw online a lot of people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that". 

So you know for me I'm sitting next to Cynthia and I'm like "Holding space with that... okay yeah". 

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, the singer said: 'It was just a really strange thing. I was grateful to see the reaction of the world when this clip came out, because I was like "Oh great! I'm not broken"'

In the original clip, put a hand over her chest while looking shocked and replied: 'I didn't know that was happening. That's really powerful. That's what I wanted' (Ariana and Cynthia pictured in November) 

After the clip went viral, Ariana and Cynthia, 37, sat down with director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia to speak to Variety - where they admitted they had 'no idea' what Tracy was talking about when they mustered a response 

'So I didn't know what any part of it meant,' Ariana said more bluntly, which got a laugh out of Jon 

And Cynthia goes "Um... I didn't know that was happening" and I'm like "Wait, what's happening?" 

'So I kind of missed what's happening at that point and Tracy then responds and kind of, doesn't know what Cynthia took it as, it seems. L

ike it seems like Tracy was like "Oh no I mean I saw it, a few times. I've seen it a few times. I mean I'm in queer media". 

'And I'm like what the f*** is any of this interaction? What does it mean? I didn’t know what it meant, and I'm just trying to comfort Cynthia, because she's very emotional and we're very like physical touch that way.'

Ariana went on to explain the part of the clip, where she holds onto Cynthia's finger and starts stroking it. 

'So I grab her finger because I see that she’s getting choked up by what Tracy has shared, and I’m like "Oh, shit",' she said.

'I grab her finger because I don’t know what else to do with myself… It was just energy I didn’t know what to do with, and it came out that way. 

And it was well intentioned, and I wanted to be loving and there for her, but why this? I don’t f***ing know.'

She then shared that she believed the 'holding spcae' comment was just 'a beautiful of saying that people identify with the lyrics and it brings them strength.'

'You know, of course that was what it meant,' she added. ' It was just a really strange thing. 

I was grateful to see the reaction of the world when this clip came out, because I was like "Oh great! I'm not broken". They felt weird too. They felt so confused too, and that's great.'