Cynthia Erivo reflects on rising career at SBIFF gala: 'I love my job'

Cynthia Erivo accepted the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film on Thursday night, using the moment to reflect on her still-rising career.

“I always think of awards like this as things that come at the end of a career, and I think I’m not even in the middle of mine,” she told the packed black-tie gala, drawing loud applause.

She added, “I thank you for this because it reminds me yes, of how far I’ve come, but also of how much more I have to go. And this is a beautiful pit stop on the way.”

Erivo, positioned between Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu and producer Marc Platt throughout the evening, was introduced by SBIFF executive director Roger Durling, who called her “one of the most incandescent lights working today.”

Durling added, “Kirk would have had a great laugh and a dry martini with Ms Erivo.”

A career montage followed, highlighting a decade of screen work stemming from her Tony-winning performance in The Color Purple and including Widows, Harriet, Genius: Aretha, Luther: The Fallen Son, Poker Face, Wicked, and more.

Erivo has now been nominated for Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tonys, with Durling noting, “We need to get on that.”

Platt praised her depth as Elphaba: “It’s really in the silent moments where her true superpower is revealed… finding the essential truth — the essence of great acting.” 

Chu followed with his own tribute, calling her “my defiant, brilliant, badass witch… We are blessed — truly, truly blessed — to live in the generation that gets to experience Cynthia Erivo freshly unearthed.”

Accepting the award, Erivo said softly, “To stand in front of you is to be reminded that there is so much work to be done… This award is a battery that powers the curiosity to carry on.” 

She closed simply: “You see, I love my job.”