Cynthia Erivo amazed she 'pulled off' playing five characters in Poker Face

Cynthia Erivo is amazed she "pulled off" the feat of playing five different characters in the TV series Poker Face.

In a recent episode of the murder-mystery comedy series, the Wicked actress played five twin sisters - Amber, Bebe, Cece, Delia, and Felicity - who meet at their family home after their mother's death.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Erivo revealed that she and the show's star Natasha Lyonne often marvel at the fact that they managed to make a TV episode in which one actor played five distinct characters.

"It was really, really cool to be able to work with someone who had that much room for that many characters coming from one person," the British actress said of Lyonne. "We still joke about it today, she and I. Like, 'What the heck? How did that even happen? How did it get pulled off?'"

Erivo shared they had to move "a mile a minute" and shoot "very fast" because she was constantly switching back and forth between her characters every day.

The Oscar-nominated actress went on to praise Lyonne for embracing each of her characters whenever she returned to the set.

"She was so sweet. She would be in the room, and I would leave and then come back as someone else. She'd just be like, 'This is insane, to see you come in and fully be the other person,'" she recalled. "The idea that she was always able to interact with whichever new character came into the room, just so openly and easily, was so much fun."

Erivo added that she colour-coded her "insane" script to help differentiate between the sisters and keep track of who was speaking to whom. But she discovered that "the most helpful thing" was getting into their respective costumes.

Erivo's episode, The Game Is A Foot, opened the second season of Poker Face on 8 May. A new episode drops on Thursdays.