of Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson.
“He’s just so unintelligent,” she says.
For the most part, though, Erivo is opti-
mistic and ebullient, willing to engage on
any topic. When asked about her love life,
she again produces her phone to show o
photos she took with her boyfriend, Mario
Martinez. “He chased me,” she says. He’s
not in the industry, but he’s adjacent
enough that they saw each other often;
whenever they did, he would ask her out
even though she was dating someone (her
ex, the actor Dean John-Wilson).
“Then the last time, I was not with my
ex anymore—except this time he did not
ask,” Erivo recalls. “He just walked up to
me and gave me a kiss.” They’ve been
together for two years.
She’s open about her life and forthright
about her career goals. She’s got an album
on the way. It’s her dream to play Serena
Williams in a biopic one day. When she
mentions career idols she goes straight
for the juggernauts: Barbra Streisand and
Whitney Houston.
But it took time to build that resolve.
Erivo wouldn’t change going to RADA,
but she says that there were times it was
frustrating to be one of a handful of black
students at a school that felt ill-equipped
to handle people of color. When she was
cast in a small role in one big musical, for
instance, one of the leads lost her voice.
Erivo was asked to go behind the curtain,
Singin’ in the Rain–style, and perform so
the other actor could lip-synch.
“To this day I’m still like, Why did I do
that?” she says. “It still feels a bit yuck, to
be honest”—to think about loaning out her
voice, considering how far it’s taken her.
SING OUT
Erivo isn’t afraid to
speak up about
her ambitions—or her
political opinions.
Dresses and bracelets
by Dior; earrings by
Pomellato. Throughout:
hair products
by Schwarzkopf
Professional; makeup
and nail enamel
by Chanel.
VANITY FAIR 117