Ariana Grande

“	Thank you for loving me endlessly whether my hair is red or brown, whether my skin is normal or covered in a terrible spray tan (never happening again), whether I’m wearing a pink gown or pajamas, whether I’m starring in a Freaky Forever episode from 2009 filmed on my MacBook in Boca or in a hit Nickelodeon TV show.	”
–Ariana Grande thanking her fans.

Ariana Grande
Born	Ariana Grande-Butera June 26, 1993 (age 30) Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.
Nickname(s)	Ari
Gender	Female
Occupation	Singer ⋅ Songwriter ⋅ Actress ⋅ Philanthropist ⋅ Business Woman
Years active	2008 - Present
Spouse	Dalton Gomez (m. 2021 - 2023)
Family	Edward Butera (father) Joan Grande (mother) Frankie Grande (half-brother) Marjorie Grande (grandmother) Frank Grande (grandfather)
Musical career
Genres	Pop, R&B
Instruments	Vocals
Label	Republic Records
Website	arianagrande.com

Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She gained popularity when she played the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon TV series Victorious, and afterwards portrayed the same character on the spin-off Sam & Cat. She broke out musically in 2013 with her single "The Way" from her No. 1 debut album, Yours Truly; in 2014, she released "Problem" which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, then "Break Free" (which also peaked at No. 4), and released her sophomore album, My Everything on August 25.

Early life

Ariana was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida. She is of Italian descent, half Sicilian, half Abruzzese, and later she found out she also had Greek and North African heritage. Her name was inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat and the shortened name of an Italian Car manufacturer Ferrari. Grande's parents are Joan Grande and Edward Butera, and she has an older brother, Frankie Grande, who is a performer and producer. When she was 8 years old, she went on a cruise with her family and she sang karaoke when Gloria Estafan (a famous Latin singer) was listening her sing. She told Ariana to follow her dreams, which inspired Ariana to do singing and acting. Ariana then did musicals at her local theater, her first being Annie, before taking music seriously when she was 13.

Career

2008–12: Beginnings and acting breakthrough

Grande when she was young.

In 2008, Grande played the role of Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. When she joined the musical, Grande left her high school, North Broward Preparatory School, but continued to be enrolled. The school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors. In 2010, she created the original role of Miriam in the reading of the new musical, Cuba Libre, written and produced by Desmond Child; the musical is about two sisters that are journeying through the revolution in Cuba. Grande also played the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, which premiered in March 2010. In 2011, Ariana voiced an animated fairy, Princess Diaspro, on the Nickelodeon series Winx Club and starred as Snow White along with Charlene Tilton and Neil Patrick Harris in the Pasadena Playhouse production of A Snow White Christmas from December 13–23, 2012. In 2012, Grande sang a duet with MIKA on the single version of his track "Popular Song".

Grande at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.

In the following month it was also announced that Victorious's current season (Season 3, which was split to a fourth season) would be the last. It was announced that the third soundtrack would be released on November 6, 2012 titled as Victorious 3.0. The first single was called "L.A. Boys" (which was performed by Grande and Victoria Justice) and the music video was released October 18, 2012. Victorious ended on February 2, 2013. It was announced during the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on August 3, 2012 that Sam & Cat, which would pair Grande from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy from iCarly together in a traditional "buddy sitcom" setting, where they would reprise their roles as Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett. Grande tweeted stating that she wasn't hoping for Victorious to end and was looking forward to being on both shows. Sam & Cat was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012, and the pilot showed them becoming roommates who launch a babysitting business for income.

2013: Yours Truly and musical breakthrough

Ariana performing at Wango Tango in 2013.

Grande completed her first studio album, Yours Truly, in June 2013 which took three years to complete. It was released in the US on September 3, 2013. Grande commented on the album saying: "They can expect a lot of honesty. It's like a direct... you know, it's like it used to be pages from my diary, instead of keeping diary, I would write songs about what was happening in my life. So it's really personal. It's a Motown throwback and pop at the same time, so it's '50s and '60s inspiration mixed with today." The album was inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Madonna, and other like these. Grande worked with artists like Sky Blue from LMFAO, 3OH!3, Kool Kojak, and Pebe Sebert on the album. She was also working in the studio with Jonas Brothers singer Nick Jonas. On March 20, 2013, Ariana previewed her new song in its entirety at B96 in Chicago for a small group of her dedicated fans and had a pizza party with them.

On March 26, 2013, Ariana's first single off her debut album, "The Way" featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, was released. Her second single "Baby I" was released, followed by "Almost Is Never Enough" featuring Nathan Sykes of The Wanted. Her last single from the album was "Right There" featuring Big Sean.

In December 2013, Grande released an EP named Christmas Kisses featuring the songs "Last Christmas", "Love is Everything", "Snow in California" and "Santa Baby," the ladder featuring Elizabeth Gillies.

2014-present: My Everything and departing Nickelodeon

Ariana at the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards.

On April 28, 2014, Ariana released the first single from her upcoming second studio album titled, "Problem" which features Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. The song was very successful selling over 400,000 units in its first week and debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song later peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, reached No. 1 on the UK Charts, and sold almost 3 million copies.

Ariana for a photoshoot.

The second single, "Break Free"—which features German music producer Zedd—went up to No. 1 on the iTunes chart almost immediately after its release.

On July 13, 2014, Nickelodeon announced that they were cancelling Sam & Cat after 35 episodes due to a "multitude of issues." The series ended on July 17. 4 episodes were left unproduced. It was rumored that the main cause behind the cancellation was due to Grande feuding with McCurdy after a salary dispute.

"Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana, and Nicki Minaj was released as the first single from Jessie's new album on July 29, 2014. The song debuted at No. 6, and has since peaked at No. 3, on the Billboard Hot 100 and is featured on the deluxe edition of My Everything.

My Everything, Ariana's second album, was released on August 25 in the United States, and seven out its fifteen songs are collaborations. It has been released in standard, deluxe, and Target edition formats.

On Thursday, September 4, 2014, Ariana performed the national anthem at the 2014 NFL season-opening game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA.

Ariana announced the production of "Santa Tell Me", her new Christmas single. It was available on November 24th and peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On January 17, 2015, it was confirmed Ariana would return to television in a recurring role on the new Ryan Murphy series Scream Queens, co-starring alongside Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lea Michelle, Abigail Breslin, and Keke Palmer. The series will revolve around a college campus shacked by a multitude of recent murders. Production is expected to begin in April, and it will air on Fox in the fall.

Personal life

Relationships

Ariana and Graham.

Ariana and Jai

In 2008, Grande started dating Graham Phillips. They were in a relationship for three years before they broke up in December 2011.

In February 2012, she and her back-up dancer Jordan Viscomi started dating. A few months later, they broke up as well.

In October 2012, Grande began dating Jai Brooks, a member of the Australian YouTube group "The Janoskians" after meeting through Twitter. They had a long distance relationship until December 2012, when they met for the first time in New York City. However, Ariana and Jai broke up in August 2013, due to Jai accusing Ariana of cheating on him.

Ariana and Nathan

The next month, after weeks of speculation, Ariana and Nathan Sykes from the British boyband "The Wanted" confirmed their relationship on Twitter. In late January 2014, Grande confirmed in a radio interview that her and Sykes had decided to end their approximately five month long relationship, but insisted that they remain close friends.

Ariana and her ex-boyfriend Jai Brooks were seen kissing after her performance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on May 1, 2014. This confirmed they were back together, but in July 2014, they broke up again after he allegedly was not supportive of Ariana during the death of her grandfather.

In August 2014, rumors began that Ariana was dating rapper Big Sean, who has been her friend for some time and who was with Ariana ​​when her grandfather died (unlike her boyfriend at the time, Jai Brooks). The rumors started because a fan photographed them leaving a movie theater; the fan also said he saw Ariana and Big Sean kissing during the movie, but nothing was confirmed until the MTV VMA's when they were filmed holding hands after Ariana sang "Bang Bang". Recently, Ariana and Big Sean were spotted kissing in Universal Studios, on the "Mummy Returns" roller coaster. On October 13, she publicly confirmed they were dating.

Tattoos

Ariana Grande has three tattoos.

The first is a heart on her toe, which she got in April 2012 while recording her debut album, Yours Truly. Its purpose is to serve as a reminder of this exciting time in her life. She also has a song called “Tattooed Heart” which inspired her heart tattoo.

Ariana's heart tattoo

Ariana’s second tattoo was writing on the back of her neck. It was done in March 14, 2014—the same day her brother Frankie Grande got a tattoo as well. It was done by artist Romeo Lacoste and reads “Mille Tendresse,” which is French for “A Thousand Tendernesses.” The saying is used in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Ariana's favorite film.

Her third tattoo is the word "Bellissima" in small letters on her side. It's a nickname that her grandfather, Frank Grande, has called her all her life. She got this on March 23 while having a party at her house. A lot of her friends got their first tattoos that night which Ariana described as "such a bonding experience".

Philanthropy

At the age of 14, Grande co-founded the youth singing group Kids Who Care in South Florida, which performed for charitable fund-raising events, raising over $500,000 for charities in 2007 alone. In the summer of 2009, as a member of the charitable organization Broadway in South Africa, Grande performed and taught music and dance to children in Gugulethu, South Africa, along with her brother Frankie. Grande also partnered with Kleenex on its "Shield Sneeze Swish" campaign.

Filmography

Stage

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2008	13: The Musical	Charlotte	Original Broadway cast
2009	Cuba Libre	Miriam	Original cast
2012	A Snow White Christmas	Snow White	Original cast, Stage production at Pasadena Playhouse

Television

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2009	The Battery's Down	Bar Mitzvah Riffer	Episode: Bad Bad News
2010-2013	Victorious	Cat Valentine	Main role
2010	BrainSurge	Herself	Contestant
2011	iCarly	Cat Valentine	Guest star in "iParty with Victorious" (Season 4, Episodes 11-13)
	Winx Club	Princess Diaspro	Recurring role, voice only
2012	Figure It Out	Herself	Judge panelist
2013/2014	The Ellen Show	Herself	Guest Performer
2013	Late Night with Jimmy Fallon	Herself	Guest
2013- 2014	Sam & Cat	Cat Valentine	Main & lead role
2014	Family Guy	Italian Daughter	Episode: Mom's the Word; voice
2014	Saturday Night Live	Herself	Co-host, performer
2015	Scream Queens	TBA	Recurring role

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2011	Snowflake the White Gorilla	Snowflake	Voice role
2013	Swindle	Amanda Benson	Main role

Gallery

“deep breaths, tight chest, life, death” To view the Ariana Grande gallery, click here.

References