‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo on her Golden Globes nomination: ‘This time I get to do this with the people I love’
With her Best Comedy/Music Actress Golden Globes nomination on Monday, “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo is now a four-time Globes nominee. But as Erivo tells Gold Derby, the recognition feels different this time around because it’s happening with a group of close friends by her side.
“This time I get to do this with the people I love,” Erivo tells Gold Derby in an interview recorded Monday after the Golden Globes nominations. She was a previous film nominee as an actress and songwriter for “Harriet” and then an actress nominee for the television limited series “Genius: Aretha.”
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“The last time I felt a little solo and though loads of people put the work in, at those awards ceremonies you’re sat by yourself,” she adds. “You don’t really have a lot of people around you and this time around I think we can go and have a good time together. We can celebrate together and we get to all be there together, and I think that makes me really happy.”
Erivo’s nomination is one of four the Globes bestowed upon “Wicked’ on Monday. Her co-star and friend Ariana Grande was also nominated for the film in the Best Supporting Actress category (it’s Grande’s first-ever Globes nomination). “Wicked” itself landed two feature film nominations as well: Best Comedy/Musical and Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. (Director Jon M. Chu, who was predicted to land among this year’s Best Director nominees, did receive a nomination.)
“I’m looking forward to sitting at that table and looking at her face, looking at Jon’s face, and being able to join hands,” Erivo adds of her collaborators. “That’s a really cool thing to be a part of, that this is not just a success for me but a success for everyone. We’re rooting for each other and that’s very cool.”
Erivo is used to awards recognition – in addition to her four nominations from the Golden Globes, she’s also a past Oscar nominee and has won awards at the Emmys, Grammys, and Tonys (she’s an Oscar win away from becoming an EGOT). But despite her awards success, she says the respect from voting groups never gets tiresome.
“It’s always really wonderful to be celebrated for your work. It’s like a little pat on the shoulder that you did something right,” she says. “I’m really proud that it’s for this work because it’s been the dream of a lifetime and to be able to celebrate this is really awesome. It means a lot.”
And that Erivo and Grande are both nominated for “Wicked” especially feels right. The actresses have been joined together frequently on the film’s global press tour and like their characters, respectively, Elphaba and Galinda/Glinda in “Wicked,” have become good friends.
“The two of us together! I’m so proud of us, but I’m really proud of her because it’s her first time into it, and to watch her step into it in this way and be so wonderful is really cool,” Erivo says of their shared nominations. “I loved doing this with her. I don’t think I could have done it with any other person. I feel like we were meant to meet each other at this point and do this together and make this wonderful movie together and experience it in this way. I’m so proud of being able to say ‘that is my friend’ and that we’re doing this together and that she’s also nominated.”
Since its release in November, “Wicked” has become one of the year’s true sensations with audiences and critics. The film is expected to be a major player at next year’s Oscars ceremony too. And that is potentially just the beginning since the famed Broadway musical was split into two parts for its film adaptation. “Wicked: Part Two” is out in theaters on November 21, 2025, meaning Erivo and Grande might be back as Globes nominees this time next year.
“I don’t think I’ve thought about it!” Erivo says about the possibility of repeating. “It’s too soon to chat about it, but I do hope people feel as strongly about the second movie as they do about the first. I do. I love it very much. I think the second part is very very special too, and hopefully, who knows? Maybe this IS what will happen this time next year!”
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