When Cynthia Erivo took part in an exclusive photoshoot with HELLO! back in 2014 where we selected our up-and-coming stars of the future, she was described as 'a diminutive powerhouse'.
Since then, her talent and charisma have led to her star ascending far higher than she could ever have dreamed.
With her incredible performance as Elphaba in box office smash Wicked – the highest grossing movie musical ever based on a Broadway show – being tipped for Oscars success, she was recently nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe and is predicted to pick up several more honours over the next few months.
In short, Cynthia's career continues to defy gravity… and it all started at a small secondary school in south-east London.
Born in Stockwell, she was raised with her sister by their single mother Edith, who always knew she would be a success. "[My mum] has this baby book and in it she wrote: 'I think [Cynthia is] going to be a singer and an actress.' I was like 18 months old or something," she has said.
Her parents separated when she was a young girl and her father later abandoned them, a trauma she channelled in a ballad she wrote called 'You're Not Here'.
"He told me that he was out of our lives," she has recalled. "And I sort of had to relay the message to everyone. But I didn't see it coming because what 16-year-old would? It was deeply disappointing, deeply heartbreaking."
At the time, she was attending La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls' School in Clapham Park where her star power was immediately apparent.
© Christina MendesRuth Coyle, the school's Director of Admissions, Careers and Technical Education exclusively tells HELLO! it was obvious she would always be a huge success. "She showed talent from a young age and her mannerisms haven't changed since she was a little girl.
"She always took part in the school productions and was a fantastic singer. She was the lead in Guys and Dolls, and Annie and My Fair Lady. I've been to see Wicked - it's fantastic - and it was quite emotional actually, as she was a little girl in a blue kilt [but now] there she is on the big stage.
"She's such a fantastic role model for the students here because they can see that anything's possible. I love seeing that she did all her own stunts, so while she was flying in the air, she was singing -it just shows you can achieve whatever you want."
Cynthia's adventures at the school also feature in an album put together about famous alumni called The Legacy Book.
© Courtesy of La RetraiteIn it, her drama teacher Mrs Masoliver recalls: "I remember, quite a long time ago, an older student who had been cast in the lead role of Fagin in the school production of 'Oliver!' could no longer take part. We were anxious to find a replacement. Leaning on the piano, a wide smile and enthusiastic, gleaming eyes, a little Year 7 girl, one of the chorus, exclaimed she could do the part.
"We listened to her sing one of Fagin's songs, and there, a La Retraite star, Cynthia Erivo, was born! She could always be relied upon to be a great ambassador for drama and music events, and her powerful voice captivated many audiences."
HELLO! first met her for our Rising Stars shoot in 2014 as she was about to star in I Can't Sing, The X Factor Musical which was co-produced by Simon Cowell. "He's lovely and has been there pretty much the whole way through the process," she told us of the music mogul.
© FilmMagic"Last week he popped in just to say hello." And when told she had been described as a 'diminutive powerhouse', she replied: "I hope so. It just so happens that a big voice comes out of me and I'm 5ft 1in."
Reporter Dawn Emery interviewed Cynthia at the shoot. "The moment I met Cynthia, it was clear she had star quality and was destined for great things," Dawn recalled.
© @arianagrande"She was making waves in theatre land before Hollywood came calling. Her voice is phenomenal and she got a standing ovation at the Press Night of I Can't Sing. She soon headed to Broadway to appear in The Color Purple there - and it was one of the best performances I've ever seen, a production that I'll never forgot."
HELLO! also spoke to Cynthia in 2021, when she was about to portray iconic singer Aretha Franklin in movie Genius: Aretha, a part for which she would later be nominated for an Emmy.
By then she had been nominated for Best Actress and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for her performance in Harriet and had achieved a lifelong ambition when she performed Stand Up, from the movie's soundtrack, during the 2020 Oscars ceremony.
© Variety via Getty Images"It's kind of crazy," she told us. "Being nominated for those two Oscars was really a dream come true. One of my dreams before I was nominated was simply to sing on the Oscars stage. That's all I wanted. To be able to do that was the dream being realised tenfold."
It's hard to believe she could ever have dreamed there were even more huge achievements to come, with her star turn in Wicked rocketing her to the top of the A-list.
© GettyThe Hollywood world is now very much her oyster and the small school where it all started would love to have her back for a day.
"My lasting memory of her was doing Chicago in the chapel in her stockings and suspenders," Ruth Coyle tells HELLO! "We would love for her to come back and sing to the girls in the chapel one day; that would be fantastic."
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
