Grande, Growing Up and Glinda: Uncovering Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande is widely known as a pop music legend but recently, she stepped back into her acting career. Let’s dive into her role as The Good Witch and the journey that has led her to where she is now.

Ariana Grande (left) and Billie Burke as 'The Good Witch' (right)

In 2013, the then-19-year-old singer made an appearance on ‘Kidd Kraddick in the Morning’, where she was interviewed. Grande expressed her love for the musical Wicked, and how it has always been her dream to star in it. Eleven years later, she defied gravity. That dream came true, and last year, she had the opportunity to take centre stage alongside Cynthia Erivo in the highly anticipated adaptation of the stage musical. Since the release of Part 1 in late November, the fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu has become a global sensation, making over $500 million at the global box office and now winning awards, too. Ariana Grande’s involvement in this project marks a defining moment in her career.

The two-time Grammy Award winner was born in June of 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida, where she kick-started her career at a very young age. She spent her early years doing community theatre and then starred in the 2008 Broadway musical ‘13’, which is where her love for it truly began. A few years later, she was cast in a television role as Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s ‘Victorious’ which pushed her into the spinoff show ‘Sam and Cat’. In an episode of ‘Podcrushed’, presented by Penn Badgley in early 2024, Grande spoke about her time on Nickelodeon. She said: “I was 14, I flew out to audition with Liz Gillies (co-star and friend), and we got cast, and it was the best news we could hear!” Shortly after her Nickelodeon debut, Grande decided that she’d focus on music for a segment of her life and signed with Republic Records.

But acting on television and singing wasn’t where it stopped. Grande’s love for musicals, particularly Wicked, stemmed from the early years - and although her pop career has skyrocketed her to where she is now - snippets of her theatre days have been around for years. In 2018, 4 years prior to the production of Wicked, she sang a song from the soundtrack on NBC’s ‘A Very Wicked Halloween’, and in 2019, on the well-known ‘Zach Sang Show’, she again voiced her admiration for the role. When Sang asked her about it, she said:

“I’d do anything [for the role].”

The murmur for the film originally began pre-pandemic, when Grande was still touring for her fourth studio album. “We had to figure it out. It’s Wicked, and it requires a totally different skill set than people know me for!” she said to Quincy Brown and Kevin Bianchi on the Sentimental Men Podcast in December of 2024. The singer exclaimed that she had to “strengthen her vocal muscles” and spent weeks with her acting and singing coaches for preparation. “It had to be earned. It’s not just a no-brainer because I know it happened one time a long time ago!”. Yet, after multiple auditions and chemistry reads, Glinda was all hers.

Like many artists, Grande has battled with her struggles over the years. She’s faced countless online criticism. Whether it was about her looks, her publicised relationships, or her vocal abilities, expectations were high, and at times, it seemed the public had a certain perception of her that was hard to erase. In April of 2023, she came to TikTok to speak about the ongoing speculation about her body image. She said: “I think we should be less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies. The body that you have been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy.”

Another topic of conversation that has been circulating the internet for years has been child acting. ‘Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV’ is a 2024 American documentary series that delves into challenges faced by child actors in the television industry. It focuses on Dan Schneider and explores issues such as exploitation through interviews with former child stars and industry insiders. Ariana Grande spoke up about it for the first time following the release. On the ‘Podcrushed’ episode, she said she was still “reprocessing what the experience was like [working on Nickelodeon].” “The environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting. I think there should be therapists…and a lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through performing at such a young age.”

After years of body image controversy surrounding Ariana Grande, it didn’t stop for the release of Wicked either.  Photos of both Grande and Erivo before and after production went viral, with fans referencing their possible weight loss. During the Wicked Press Tour, the pair were interviewed on ‘Oui Oui Baguette’. When asked about how she copes with beauty standards and critics, she said: “In today’s society, there is a comfortability that we shouldn’t have, and I know what the pressure of that noise feels like – it’s been a resident in my life since I was 17…I just don’t invite it in anymore."

Part 2 of Wicked is set to come out soon, and the title has been revealed: ‘For Good.”

But what’s next in store for Grande herself?

Her seventh studio album was released in March

Grande on her 'Dangerous Woman' Tour in 2017

of 2024, and fans are zealously anticipating another tour. Yet, she appeared on the ‘Zach Sang Show’ again last year and said: “I don’t want to announce anything or get people too excited because I don’t want to disappoint.” Then again, in November of last year, she sat down with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang in the iHeartRadio ‘Last Culturistas’ Podcast and said she doesn’t think she sees herself making music in the future at the same rate she has been doing it for the past ten years.

“It [acting] fits me in a different way than songwriting.

I’m always going to do pop stuff, but I’d love to [act] in roles we see fit.”

After a career of profound impact and notable achievements, maybe Grande is now, at 31, realising what she truly loves doing. It will be interesting to see where the success of Wicked takes her – perhaps the future generations will know her as an actor rather than a pop princess.

The second of the two-part feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ is expected to hit cinemas on November 21st, 2025.

See you there.