As she dominates coverage of the Oscars thanks to her starring role in Wicked, Cynthia Erivo is every bit a Hollywood star. But the British actress’s first TV appearance was a long way from the bright lights – with it newly emerging that the 38-year-old’s debut came as a fresh-faced teenager.

Cynthia, who played Elphaba in Wicked, was remembered by a brother and sister who recalled coming into contact with the then 15-year-old as she tried to tame the naughty siblings on a Channel 4 reality show saying she always had a “big personality”. Trust Me, I’m a Teenager was broadcast in 2003, and Cynthia was on a panel of “mentors” trying to help the siblings mother Jacki to tame her wild children Kelly, Russell, Mark and Mike.

The Hollywood actress was a straight talking religious teenager who came across as a seriously ‘bossy’ mentor – with no issue imposing curfews on them – and the siblings had no idea until this week that she was now one of the biggest film stars in the world.

Realising their childhood ‘mentor’ who didn’t shy away from being hard on them is the one and only Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, Russell Rainbow told The Times: “It just clicked. Of course it’s her. The mannerisms. She definitely had tenacity and a big personality at that age. Very independent. She was very well spoken. Very well put together, very composed. I do remember Cynthia being quite harsh on my Mum though about her smoking. And I remember her being quite hard on my sister.”

Kelly Rainbow added: “She always seemed to want to be harder on me than anyone else. At the time we were very different children. She was from a religious background and did everything by the book where I wasn’t. I think our personalities clashed. She was so mean to me,” she said before adding with a laugh: “I could have been a bit of a pain though. No hard feelings. And my daughters love Elphaba.”

While many film fans have only heard of Cynthia since her success in Wicked, the 38-year-old has had huge success in the industry for years. She has also appeared in Disney’s Pinocchio, the 2019 film Harriet, voiced characters in a number of TV series from Star Wars: Visions to Strange Planet, and famously played Celie in The Colour Purple on Broadway.

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