Hi everyone and thank you for tuning into the 320th episode of Awards Chatter, the Hollywood Reporters Awards Podcast. I'm the host Scott Feinberg and my

guest today is one of the most talented up-and-comers in show business. She only

just turned 33 but she is already an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner.

And at the Academy Awards on February 9th, she will have two opportunities to become the youngest

Egot ever.

Because her performance is Harriet Tubman in Casey Lemon's biopic Harriet has been nominated

for the Best Actress Oscar, and Stand Up, the tune that she co-wrote with Joshua

Brian Campbell for and performs over its end credits,

has been nominated for the best original song Oscar, making her only the third person after

Mary J Blige and Lady Gaga ever to receive Oscar nominations for both acting and music in the same year.

I'm talking, of course, about Cynthia Arrivo.

Over the course of our conversation at the offices of the Hollywood reporter, the British actress of Nigerian descent reflected on her accidental journey to Radha and a career in show business.

How specifically she came to star in the first ever musical adaptation of the color purple,

and how that catapulted her to a Tony, Grammy, and Emmy, as well as a film career,

how she managed to adapt to screen acting, starting with Steve McQueen's

widows and continuing right through Harriet, which on her shoulders has become a

breakout hit at the box office, plus much more. And so without further ado, let's go to that conversation.

Cynthia, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you on the podcast thank you for having me

absolutely we uh always begin with just a few basics where were you born and

raised and what did your parents do for a living I was born in London

UK my mother is a nurse and I think my dad is a civil

servant but we didn't live with him so I really actually never knew what he did.

...