Cynthia Erivo

The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner on playing Aretha Franklin and recording an album during a pandemic

- MARIA FONTOURA

When cynthia Erivo was cast as Harriet Tubman in the 2019 biopic Harriet, the internet lit up with criticism. Erivo is English, the outcry went, how could she do justice to a uniquely American hero? Her answer was a muscular performance that earned her an Oscar nomination. Backlash surrounding her casting as another American icon, Aretha Franklin, in the National Geographic series Genius: Aretha (premiering March 21st), was barely a whisper. Perhaps people are learning not to underestimate Erivo. Or perhaps it’s just that anyone who’s heard her sing knows her voice is undeniable — even the Queen of Soul herself. During Erivo’s Tonywinning turn as Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway, Franklin visited backstage, singing a line of Erivo’s bringthe-house-down number “I’m Here” back to her. When they met again at the 2016 Kennedy Center Honors, “she remembered me,” Erivo says. “She said, ‘You’re the girl that can sing, right?’ ”

Harriet Tubman is an icon, but with Aretha, you’re dealing with the shadow of a modern legend: the ulti mate diva. Is that more challenging for you as an actor?

Yeah, because she had a couple of sides to her. There was the side in front of interviewers — if she wasn’t quite comfortable with them, it was very reserved, superquiet. And then there’s the side that her family got to see, just fun and jokey. She had a really big sense of humor. Also, she had such complex relationships with people. So it’s less difficult, more daunting.