British-Nigerian Cynthia Erivo, has won Breakout Actress for Harriet at the 23rd annual Hollywood Film Awards.

The award ceremony took place at the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills.

Cynthia Erivo

Erivo was born as Cynthia Chinasaokwu Erivo on January 8, 1987, in Stockwell, London to Nigerian parents.

She is known for her performance as Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and was one of nine recipients of the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Erivo’s film roles include the 2018 heist film Widows, the 2018 thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, and the 2019 biopic Harriet, in which she portrayed Harriet Tubman.

She attended La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School. Erivo began a music psychology degree at the University of East London; however, a year into her degree, she applied to and subsequently trained at, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.