Ariana Grande is one of the most famous people on the planet, but she's actually been working longer than many people realize. Here are some of the stops she's made on her journey from Nickelodeon star to Glinda the Good.
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00:00Ariana Grande is one of the most famous people on the planet, but she's actually been working
00:04longer than many people realize. Here's some of the stops she's made on her journey from
00:08Nickelodeon star to Glinda the Good.
00:11When Victorious premiered on Nickelodeon in 2010, nobody could have predicted the global
00:14superstar that Ariana Grande would become within just a few short years. As Cat Valentine,
00:19the happy-go-lucky, ditzy bestie of Victoria Justice's Tori Vega, Grande brought levity
00:24to the teen sitcom. Prior to landing the role, Grande had only appeared onscreen once in
00:28the 2009 episode of the musical comedy series The Battery's Down. Victorious was Grande's
00:33big Hollywood break, prompting her and her mother to move to Los Angeles after her call
00:37back at the age of 14.
00:38The show ran for three years, during which time Grande brought some hilariously unforgettable
00:42cat moments to life. She has several Victorious scenes that showcase her vocal chops, but
00:46it wasn't until 2013, upon the release of her single The Way, featuring the late Mac
00:50Miller, that she earned pop star status. For the newcomer, it was a joy to embody an individual
00:55who was so unlike herself. Speaking to SBTV at the time, she said,
00:59"...the thing about playing Cat that I love the most is that she's so different from me
01:02that it feels like a little bit of a vacation when I put my red wig on and I get into character.
01:07It's like a relief almost, it's like a little release, and I get to go into this beautiful,
01:10happy world of Cat Valentine."
01:12Following the release of Quiet on Set, a documentary that put a spotlight on the adult humor weaved
01:17into former Nickelodeon showrunner Dan Schneider's creations, Grande looked back on the show with
01:21fresh eyes.
01:22"...it just all happened so quickly, and now looking back on some of the clips, I'm like,
01:27that's...damn, like, really?"
01:30In 2011, as she continued to star on Victorious, Grande took on a second job with Nickelodeon
01:36as a voice actor in Winx Club. Grande voiced Princess D'Aspro in 13 episodes of the series,
01:41which follows a group of fairy warriors as they hone their magic. Princess D'Aspro couldn't
01:44be more different than Cat Valentine. While a Hollywood arts student is kind-hearted and
01:49selfless, always willing to go above and beyond for her friends, the fairy only cares
01:52about her best interests.
01:54During Grande's years on Winx Club, she worked with an all-star cast, including Kiki Palmer
01:58and her Victorious colleague Elizabeth Gillies. Not long after a time on Winx Club, Grande
02:02briefly stepped into the adult animation world by playing a small role on Family Guy, though
02:07her character never appears on screen and only has one line.
02:10"...Dad, can I have five dollars for lunch tomorrow?"
02:13"...Yeah, sure. Just let me go check my room full of gold and jewels."
02:18Shortly after Victorious wrapped up, Grande pivoted to her second Nickelodeon sitcom,
02:22Sam & Cat. A spinoff of both Victorious and iCarly, the show stars Grande as Cat and Jeanette
02:27McCurdy as Sam Puckett, living as roommates and navigating various hijinks.
02:31As Sam & Cat kicked off in 2013, so did Grande's pop star career with the release of her debut
02:36album Yours Truly. Though McCurdy put on a happy front for the cameras, she was brewing
02:40with jealousy behind the scenes. In her memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died, she revealed that she
02:45constantly compared her career and her childhood to Grande's.
02:48There was tension even when the show was airing, with TMZ reporting that McCurdy felt angered
02:52over allegedly making less than her co-star. According to Grande, this was no more than
02:56a vicious rumor. In a statement posted to Axe, then known as Twitter, Grande wrote,
03:00"...Jeanette and I agreed up front that we would be treated equally on this show in all
03:03regards, as we should be, considering we each work just as hard as the other on the show."
03:07The rumors circulating about our contracts and our salary not being equal are absolutely
03:11ridiculous and false. Sam & Cat was canceled after only one season and 35 episodes.
03:17While Sam & Cat was airing in 2013, Grande joined forces with McCurdy and fellow Nickelodeon
03:22actors Sierra Bravo, Noah Monk, Chris O'Neill, and Noah Crawford for the TV comedy film Swindle.
03:28Based on the children's novel of the same name by Gordon Korman, Swindle follows a group
03:32of teens as they plot to retrieve a valuable baseball card worth $1.2 million that one
03:36of their friends sold to a sketchy collector. Grande plays Amanda Benson, a cheerleader.
03:41Though Amanda puts on a cool and popular persona, there is more to her than meets the
03:44eye. Grande said in a promotional interview for the film,
03:47"...she's very insecure, actually. But later on, you discover that she's actually a really
03:51huge geek. And all of this facade is just to cover up the fact that she's a huge dork."
03:55"...Red-haired Captain Cybertor, in mint condition, is worth $80,000!"
04:00For Grande, it was a joy to work with so many actors who she already knew and had chemistry
04:04with. She explained,
04:05"...it's a dream come true. They're all such good kids, so it's awesome."
04:09With her Nickelodeon career behind her, Grande took on a new acting challenge in 2015, portraying
04:14Chanel No. 2 in Fox's horror-comedy series Scream Queens. The show centers on Emma Roberts
04:19as Chanel Oberlin and her crew of Kappa Kappa Tau house sorority members who are being targeted
04:23on campus by a mysterious killer. Grande, a longtime fan of co-creator Ryan Murphy's
04:27work, was thrilled to be included in his project and expressed her excitement in an interview
04:31with Extra.
04:32"...When I got the chance to meet with him, I was like, literally, whatever you want me
04:35to do, I'm down."
04:37Chanel No. 2 only appears in four episodes of the series, but that was okay with Grande,
04:41who loved being a part of something that was simultaneously girly and macabre. After years
04:45of creating kid-friendly content, Scream Queens was a welcome change of pace for the lifelong
04:49horror fan.
04:50"...It's very nice to have a little break from the usual and to do something completely
04:54different."
04:55Sadly, Scream Queens was canceled after two seasons.
04:58Prior to becoming a Nickelodeon star, Grande got her start in entertainment on Broadway
05:02as a teenager, appearing in the musical 13. Though she strayed away from theater when
05:06her television career took off, she never lost her passion for it, and she got to return
05:10to her first love in 2016, as Penny Pingleton in NBC's Hairspray Live. Speaking with Extra,
05:16she opened up about how excited she was about the role.
05:18"...I have always been a huge theater nerd. And, you know, like you said, you didn't know,
05:22a lot of people don't actually know that this is, like, my soul."
05:25She added that, as a kid, Hairspray was her top musical, and Penny was her favorite character.
05:30Grande was honored to join the likes of Harvey Fierstein, Jennifer Hudson, and especially
05:34Kristen Chenoweth for this live television special. A longtime fan of the latter, Grande
05:38won the chance to meet her backstage years prior at the premiere of Broadway's Wicked,
05:42in which Chenoweth starred as the first Glinda. Chenoweth said of Grande,
05:45"...I knew immediately that this girl was special, and here we stand."
05:48For Grande, it was also an honor to beam the magic of Broadway into the homes of folks
05:51who may not be able to experience it in person. Speaking with Snugglepaw Digital Studios,
05:56she gushed about how important theater was to her, saying,
05:58"...this is kind of bringing that Broadway energy to your living room, which is so genius
06:02and so special and means so much to me as a person because theater is so in my heart."
06:07The same year of Hairspray Live's premiere, Grande had a cameo appearance in Zoolander
06:112. Her character is only credited as Latex BDSM, and if you've seen the film, you'll
06:16know why. In one scene, Grande and a similar character played by Christina Hendricks are
06:20seducing Owen Wilson's character Hansel. At first, he shies away from the pair, explaining
06:24that he's still in a committed relationship but just taking a break. However, after some
06:28urging by Grande and a few other characters, he eventually gives in to temptation.
06:32Prior to the film's release, Grande did a great job at keeping the nature of her role
06:35under wraps. When urged to divulge information during an interview with BBC Radio 1 Breakfast
06:40Show, she was reluctant to offer details.
06:42"...I can just say that even though it's a tiny little thing, it was like the coolest
06:47experience of my life."
06:48In 2019, Grande added another cameo to her list with Men in Black International. When
06:52Tessa Thompson's Agent M begins working with the organization, she learns that many celebrities
06:57are actually aliens in disguise. Upon entering headquarters, she views the massive alien
07:01surveillance system, which flashes Grande, Elon Musk, and Donald Glover as undercover
07:05creatures to look out for.
07:07"...And slither who you think it is."
07:10This cameo came at the perfect time for Grande, who released the track NASA just a few months
07:14prior to the film hitting theaters. The song features an homage to Neil Armstrong's iconic
07:19message upon stepping foot on the moon, so appearing as an extraterrestrial was very
07:23thematically appropriate.
07:25Grande returned to television in a musical capacity in 2020 when she appeared in the
07:29Jim Carrey-led Showtime dramedy Kidding.
07:31In Season 2, Episode 5 of the show, Grande appears on Carrey's character Jeff Pickles'
07:35program as Piccola Grande, a.k.a. the Pickle Fairy of Hope. Donning a green sparkly dress
07:40with pickle wings and a pickle wand, Piccola urges Mr. Pickles and his puppet friends to
07:45stick together and remain hopeful for the future.
07:47During her catchy tune, Grande shows off her vocal talents, throwing in countless runs
07:51and utilizing her iconic falsetto. On Instagram, Grande posted a photo of herself and Carrey,
07:56one of her all-time favorite actors, whom she was thrilled to work and sing with. She
07:59captioned the post,
08:00"...nothing is crazier than getting to work with and spend time with someone whom you've
08:03idolized and adored since before you could speak. Actually, what's even crazier is discovering
08:08that person to be more special and warm and generous in person than you ever could have
08:11imagined."
08:12A huge fan of comedy, Grande was excited to be approached by writer, director, and producer
08:17Adam McKay about taking on a small but hilarious role in his 2021 film Don't Look Up. Playing
08:22two astronomers, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence attempt to warn the world about
08:26a comet that's hurtling toward Earth. However, everyone is more interested in the romantic
08:30relationship between Grande's character pop star Riley Bina and a character called DJ
08:34Cello.
08:35The news about their relationship fluctuating sort of eclipses the news of the Earth coming
08:40to an end."
08:41At one point in the movie, Riley and DJ Cello perform a massive concert together and sing
08:45the tune, "'Just Look Up." In bringing the song to life, Grande improvised some of the
08:49best lines, much to the amazement of McKay. In a behind-the-scenes interview, McKay told
08:53Rolling Stone,
08:54"'She's the one who added all that stuff about, "'We're all gonna die.' Turn off that
08:57s---- news. That was her riffing on the first scratch track of the melody line. And the
09:01second I heard it, I was like, oh, that's going in the movie.'"
09:04Portraying Glinda in Wicked, the two-part movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical,
09:09has been a long time coming for Grande. During a 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring
09:13Jimmy Fallon, the talk show host pulled up a 2011 tweet from Grande that said,
09:17"'Loved seeing Wicked again. Amazing production. Made me realize again how badly I want to
09:21play Glinda at some point in my life. Hashtag dream role.'"
09:24Grande admits to having pestered Mark Platt, producer of the stage show, over the years,
09:28regularly checking in for updates about a film adaptation. When the project was finally
09:32given the green light and Grande learned that auditions were on the horizon, she wanted
09:35to prove that she was more than a pop star. She told Broadway World,
09:38"...I've never wanted something as badly as I did this. I worked every day with my vocal
09:42coaches for six months to transform my voice. My singing voice, everything about me I had
09:46to kind of deconstruct to prove to them that I could handle taking on this other person."
09:50All of the vocals heard in Wicked by Grande and Cynthia Erivo were sung live on set, with
09:54the duo more than up for the strenuous vocal challenge. It's safe to say that the young
09:58Grande who met Chenoweth backstage all those years ago would be overjoyed at what her future
10:02holds.