THE COLOR PURPLE's Cynthia Erivo Wins 2016 Tony Award for Best Lead Actress - Musical

Cynthia Erivo has won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her role as Celie in The Color Purple. The role marks her Broadway debut.

Erivo received an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination for Best Musical Performance and a WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Celie in The Color Purple. In 2011 Cynthia received her first big musical theatre break, in Kneehigh Theatre's production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Gielgud Theatre, followed by the starring role of Deloris Van Cartier in the UK tour of Jerry Zaks' production of Sister Act. Cynthia appeared in the West End as Chenice in Harry Hill and Simon Cowell's critically acclaimed musical, I Can't Sing, at the London Palladium and also played the leading role of Dessa in the European premiere of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical, Dessa Rose, at Trafalgar Studios.

A 2010 graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), Cynthia's many stage credits include Simon Stephens'Marine Parade, which premiered at the 2010 Brighton Festival, John Adams' experimental "song play," I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky, at Theatre Royal Stratford East, and Dominic Hill's The Three Musketeers and The Princess of Spain at Traverse, Belgrade and English Touring theatres.

This past fall, Cynthia returned to her classical roots in the Donmar Warehouse's acclaimed all-female production of Henry IV opposite Dame Harriet Walter, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. She will soon star as Puck in the Liverpool Everyman's production ofA Midsummer Night's Dream, opposite Dean Nolan and Andrew Schofield, directed by Nick Bagnall. In addition to her stage career, Cynthia is a songwriter and wrote the song, "Fly Before You Fall," for last year's feature film Beyond the Lights.

The new Broadway revival of The Color Purple opened December 10, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W 45th Street). Based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning novel and the Warner Bros. / Amblin Entertainment motion picture,The Color Purple is adapted for the stage by Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winner MarSha Norman, with music and lyrics by Grammy award winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.

Grammy, Academy Award, and Golden Globe award winner Jennifer Hudson made her Broadway debut opposite Erivo, the breakout star of John Doyle's acclaimed Menier Chocolate Factory production, and Orange is the New Black's Danielle Brooks, in the highly anticipated production of The Color Purple.

The cast also features Isaiah Johnson (The Merchant of Venice, Peter and the Starcatcher) in the role of 'Mister;' Joaquina Kalukango (Encores! Wild Party, Holler If Ya Hear Me) as 'Nettie;' and Kyle Scatliffe (LES MISERABLES) as 'Harpo.'

Photos by Matthew Murphy