2021 Emmys: Cynthia Erivo Says Telling Aretha Franklin's Story in 'Genius: Aretha' Was a 'Huge Honor'

Cynthia Erivois reflecting on the “honor” of getting to play legendary singerAretha Franklin.

The 34-year-old actress is nominated at the 73rd PrimetimeEmmy Awardsfor outstanding lead actress in a limited series or a movie for her role as Franklin in the National Geographic anthology seriesGenius.

On the PEOPLE andEntertainment Weeklyred carpet ahead of the show, she opened up to hosts Janine Rubenstein and Jeremy Parsons about the role.

“It was a huge honor, and it did feel like she was with us — feels like she’s still watching honestly, when the nomination happened it felt like her giving me a wink and going, ‘Well done,’ " Erivo said of the “Respect” artist, whodied in 2018 of pancreatic cancerat age 76.

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TheHarrietstar continued, “I knew that I wanted to be as truthful as possible with this role, and I wanted to honor her memory and the music that she made and the life that she lived because it was not an easy one, and she still came through.”

“She gave the world such incredible music and brought many people together, and I wanted to make sure her story was told as fully as possible,” Erivo said. “I’m really glad to be here for that.”

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“Unbeknownst to me, that interview gets sent to [executive producers]Clive Davisand Brian Grazer, [and] the rest is history,” the Tony winner said. “I get a call from my agent, who says National Geographic is doing the nextGeniusand it’s about Aretha Franklin and they would like you to consider playing the role, and there’s a meeting coming up if you want to take it.”

source: people.com