The two faces of the fame game: How Britain's Oscar hopefuls Florence Pugh, 24, and Cynthia Erivo, 33, have walked very different paths to stardom

They represent two of Britain's best hopes of bagging an Oscar, entrancing audiences and critics alike with their performances as spoilt Amy March in Little Women, and slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet. 

But though they share exceptional talent, Florence Pugh, 24, and Cynthia Erivo, 33, have walked very different paths to stardom. 

While Florence found fame after talent scouts came to her private school, Cynthia — raised by her single mother in South London — had to cross the Atlantic to find roles that let her stellar talent flourish. 

Florence Pugh was fast tracked to stardom from her private school... won dream roles... and is nominated – deservedly – for an Oscar at just 24
Fellow Brit Cynthia Erivo is also nominated – yet, raised by a single mum in South London, had to go to the U.S. for her huge talent to be recognised

Florence Pugh was fast tracked to stardom from her private school... won dream roles... and is nominated – deservedly – for an Oscar at just 24. Fellow Brit Cynthia Erivo is also nominated – yet, raised by a single mum in South London, had to go to the U.S. for her huge talent to be recognised

Not only that, but her Oscar nomination has highlighted the fact she's been ignored by the Baftas — her own country's most prestigious awards. 

In stark contrast, Florence Pugh is up for a Bafta for Best Supporting Actress. Here, we tell the very different back stories of the Oscar hopefuls.

As proud parental moments go, few could trump the one restaurateur Clinton Pugh is enjoying right now.

His exciting news arrived courtesy of a FaceTime call from daughter Florence at around 10am on Monday.

Ringing her parents back home in Oxfordshire from Los Angeles in the middle of the night, Florence had just learned she'd been nominated for an Oscar.

'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,' she said, and I could see her lovely, big face smiling,' says Clinton. 

Then infuriatingly, his 24-year-old daughter's big announcement was delayed because his phone ran out of battery.

Florence Pugh is pictured getting a kiss of congratulations from boyfriend Zach Braff after her Oscar nomination. Florence has never commented on her relationship with Braff, who, at 44, is 20 years her senior

Florence Pugh is pictured getting a kiss of congratulations from boyfriend Zach Braff after her Oscar nomination. Florence has never commented on her relationship with Braff, who, at 44, is 20 years her senior

'I had to charge it and as soon as I did, it was inundated with messages. It ran out again before she could call back,' he says.

When Florence — up for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Amy in Little Women — finally got through, Clinton says her mum Deborah 'screamed and screamed'.

Clinton beams. 'I'm very happy that she's managed to shine that brightly.'

Soon afterwards, the rest of the world witnessed Florence's delight when she posted a euphoric picture of herself on Instagram receiving the Oscars call while in bed.

To be nominated alongside A-listers such as Scarlett Johansson and Margot Robbie is a phenomenal achievement for this relative newcomer, the privately educated daughter of a restaurant owner and a dance instructor.

As Clinton puts it: 'Not many of us have relatives who have been Oscar-nominated.'

Speaking exclusively to the Mail from one of a string of restaurants he owns in Oxford, he said: 'Florence is one in a billion. You don't come across Florences very often.'

Florence, pictured above with her father Clinton, was plucked as a sixth-former from £30,000-a-year St Edward's school in Oxford to play pregnant schoolgirl Abbie in Carol Morley's thriller The Falling

Florence, pictured above with her father Clinton, was plucked as a sixth-former from £30,000-a-year St Edward's school in Oxford to play pregnant schoolgirl Abbie in Carol Morley's thriller The Falling

Presumably also excited about her nomination is boyfriend Zach Braff — best known for his role in the hit TV comedy-drama Scrubs.

Florence has never commented on her relationship with Braff, who, at 44, is 20 years her senior. The age gap might be enough to have many dads kicking up an Oscar-sized stink, but Clinton, 61, insists he is not bothered.

'I haven't got a problem with the age. She's very mature,' he says, adding that he has met Braff 'quite a few times. He's a lovely guy.'

Florence is the third of her siblings to go into acting — elder brother Toby Sebastian, 27, is best known as Trystane Martell in Game Of Thrones, while big sister Arabella Gibbins, 34, has appeared on stage. Her youngest sister Rafaela, 16, hopes to follow them into the industry.

Florence was plucked as a sixth-former from £30,000-a-year St Edward's school in Oxford to play pregnant schoolgirl Abbie in Carol Morley's thriller The Falling.

She went on to appear as sexually obsessed Katherine in the 2016 film Lady Macbeth, and starred alongside Anthony Hopkins in a stage adaptation of King Lear.

She took the lead role of Charlie in BBC thriller The Little Drummer Girl before starring in the horror film, Midsommar.

She is currently in Los Angeles promoting Black Widow, a Marvel film in which she co-stars with Scarlett Johansson. Much has been made of Florence's privileged upbringing — but don't tell her dad that she's a rich girl whose success was handed to her on a plate.

'Everyone assumes she's posh and never gives anyone credit for working hard,' he says.'

He also revealed that while Florence may have grown up in a £1.2 million home, her ancestors were distinctly working-class.

Her maternal grandfather, George, worked at Grimsby docks and her maternal grandmother, Pat, was an office clerk. Clinton's mother, meanwhile, was raised in London's East End.

Clinton says he has applied solid working-class principles to creating his own very close family.

But Florence did not have an easy early childhood. As a toddler she developed tracheomalacia, an illness that caused collapsed airways. 

So when she was three, her family moved to Andalusia in Spain, hoping that the warmer weather would help her condition.

Florence says she can remember every day of the three years they spent there — 'in and out of the sea naked, cycling down the road in my knickers'.

Her first foray into acting came at six, when she suggested playing a 'northern Mary' in her school Nativity play. 

'I remember hobbling onto the stage, going 'Ooh, me varicose veins!' and everyone p***ing themselves,' she says. 

'It was the first time I knew the power of being on stage. I remember thinking: 'Oh God, they're listening to everything I say and I have complete control.' I still feel that now.'

When she was about 12, brother Toby began acting in earnest: 'I remember watching him for years so . . . I kind of knew the harsh reality of how things worked,' she says.

Now, presumably, she is providing that same support for Rafaela, who is studying for her GCSEs.

Rafaela responded to her sister's Instagram post with an endearing: 'Just came out of a chemistry exam and this has most certainly lightened the mood!!!'

 

Fellow Brit Cynthia Erivo is also nominated – yet, raised by a single mum in South London, had to go to the U.S. for her huge talent to be recognised

By Natalie Clarke and Inderdeep Bains for the Daily Mail

The picture was just another snap at an awards ceremony but the emerging narrative was clear.

There were Hollywood superstars Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron. Between them was Cynthia Erivo, the 33-year-old British actress who this week was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.

For there is no doubt Ms Erivo is Hollywood hot property now.

Having slogged all the way from South London to Broadway in her career, she is finally close to the ultimate prize — an Academy Award.

And it is chiefly in America that her talent has been recognised: last week she was overlooked for a Bafta nomination for her role as slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet (while Florence Pugh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress), leading the Mail's Baz Bamigboye to comment on the 'great shame' that she wasn't properly rewarded by her home country.

Calling her an 'extraordinary talent', he described Bafta's inaction as a clear 'snub'. 

The slur was picked up on social media, too, where the hashtag #BAFTASSoWhite questioned Cynthia's absence from the nominations list.

The picture was just another snap at an awards ceremony but the emerging narrative was clear. There were Hollywood superstars Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron. Between them was Cynthia Erivo, the 33-year-old British actress who this week was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar

The picture was just another snap at an awards ceremony but the emerging narrative was clear. There were Hollywood superstars Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron. Between them was Cynthia Erivo, the 33-year-old British actress who this week was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar

Meanwhile, Cynthia reportedly refused an invitation to perform musically at the Bafta Awards. Since the outcry, Bafta has promised to look again at its diversity policy.

If Cynthia wins the Oscar next month, she will make history as the youngest person ever to win a so-called EGOT — a full set of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. She picked up the others for her knockout performance as Celie in the musical The Color Purple on Broadway in 2015.

Speaking after her Oscar nomination, she didn't hold back. 'It's not enough that I'm the only one (black actor),' she said.

How far away the streets of Stockwell must seem to Cynthia now. She and her younger sister, Stephanie, now a 30-year-old fitness instructor, were raised by their single mother, Edith, in a council flat.

There is some mystery over her father — her mother, a Nigerian-born health visitor, chose not to put his name on Cynthia's birth certificate. 

Apparently, he walked out on the family when the girls were babies, and maintained intermittent contact as they grew up.

When Cynthia was 15, however, he announced one day at a Tube station that he didn't want to see them again.

'I don't know if that is a trauma,' Cynthia has said, 'and if it was, I learnt how to deal with it.'

Edith married Samuel Uregbula in 1992, when Cynthia was five, but the couple have since split up.

Her mum spotted her elder daughter's talent when she was two, writing in a baby book that her firstborn would one day be a singer and actress.

How far away the streets of Stockwell must seem to Cynthia now. She and her younger sister, Stephanie, now a 30-year-old fitness instructor, were raised by their single mother, Edith, in a council flat

How far away the streets of Stockwell must seem to Cynthia now. She and her younger sister, Stephanie, now a 30-year-old fitness instructor, were raised by their single mother, Edith, in a council flat

'I don't know why she wrote that,' Cynthia says, 'but she said I hummed while I ate.'

At 11, Cynthia attended La Retraite Catholic School for Girls in Clapham Park, joined a youth drama group and sang in the choir at her Catholic church.

At 15, she took part in a Channel 4 reality show called Trust Me, I'm A Teenager.

On leaving school, she studied music psychology at the University of East London.

At the end of her second year, she bumped into Rae McKen, a theatre director she had worked with in a youth production of Romeo and Juliet at the Young Vic in London. McKen suggested she should audition for RADA — and she got in.

To pay her way through drama school, she worked for the shirt company Thomas Pink.

'Just as I was about to graduate, I was offered the role of womenswear specialist and I thought: 'I could stay here.' I had a pension and all that stuff. The easiest thing to do was stay.'

But she took the plunge instead, and graduated from RADA in 2011. After that, various theatre roles followed, including in The Color Purple in London.

A solid, if not remarkable, career beckoned — until the fates intervened. In 2014, Cynthia won the starring role in Simon Cowell's West End musical I Can't Sing!, based on The X Factor. 

She played Chenice, a shy working-class singer who becomes famous after winning a talent show.

The show was pulled after just seven weeks but everyone agreed that Cynthia was a star in the making.

Less than a year later, she landed the lead role in The Color Purple on Broadway and everyone was blown away by her performance.

When she won her Tony in 2016, she choked back tears as she pointed to her mum in the audience and said: 'Hi, Mummy, look!' Back in Britain, however, she remained virtually unknown.

This month, Cynthia will appear in supernatural thriller The Outsider on the U.S. channel HBO, and later this year she portrays Aretha Franklin — one of her heroines — in the National Geographic Genius series, also on HBO.

Now she is already looking at bigger things. 'I want to be able to do the Tom Cruise roles,' she says. 'The superhero roles.'

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