*The third season of National Geographic’s “Genius” focuses on the utterly talented, singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist, Aretha Franklin. Aretha will be portrayed by Emmy Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award winning actress, Cynthia Erivo, in ‘Genius: Aretha.’
EUR correspondent Briana Wright, spoke to Erivo about the significance of playing this role and her plans to continue to impact the industry and the community; much like Aretha.
“I heard Aretha when I was about 9 years old and something hit me in my chest…and I knew at that age that I wanted to sing,” expressed the actress.
As Franklin grew into a success, she still faced challenges as a woman of color in the entertainment industry. Erivo feels playing the role of Aretha has encouraged her to push forward. “As a Black woman in this industry, you’re constantly sort of, fighting to be appreciated in the right way…and I guess, working through this was really inspiring and just inspired me to keep going, keep fighting…”
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Similar to Franklin, Erivo plans to use her platform to serve a greater purpose and she’s doing that with her new production company, Edith’s Daughter.
“The goal is to tell the stories of us, Black women, in spaces that we’re not usually seen and to normalize the experiences that we have, even though, often, they’re skipped over.”
On top of her production company, she will be releasing a children’s book this summer along with her debut album. She aspires to have her own school for the arts, potentially a clothing line, and a sports line.
The sky’s the limit for Erivo! In the meantime, catch her in the new season of “‘Genius: Aretha” premiering on Sunday, March 21st at 9/8c on National Geographic.
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