Ariana Grande is reprising her role as Glinda in the upcoming movie Wicked: For Good, which hits theatres imminently – but how much do you know about her?
One of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the year drops tomorrow when Wicked: For Good hits theaters. Following on from last year’s Wicked, Wicked: For Good is based on the second half of the hugely successful stage show and concludes the stories of Glinda and Elphaba in Oz.
Ariana Grande is again playing Glinda in Wicked: For Good. She won rave reviews for her performance in the first film, and has again been praised in the sequel – although critics have had varying opinions on the quality of the movie – as you can read here.
But how much do you know about Ariana Grande? Here is our rundown of some key facts about the much-loved actress and singer.
She debuted on Broadway aged 15
While Ariana started acting at age 8 – performing with the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theater – her first major break in the industry came when she was 15 and she landed the role of Charlotte in the Broadway musical 13 – the only one on Broadway to have a cast and band entirely made up of teenage performers.
Interestingly, Eliabeth Gillies was also part of the cast of 13 and she went on to star alongside Ariana in the Nickelodeon series Victorious.
Iconic ponytail
Ariana is famous for her high ponytail hairstyle. However, it apparently first came about out of necessity. While starring in Victorious as Cat Valentine, she had dyed red hair. Repeatedly dyeing her hair damaged it, and the high ponytail was initially a way of hiding this. But now it is more of a fashion statement now that she is known for it.
Highest paid female artist
While Ariana initially made her name in acting, it was her music career that made her into a global superstar.
Famed for a four-octave vocal range, she released her first album, Yours Truly, in 2013. Following that, more albums followed in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, all of which spawned hit singles around the world.
In 2020, Ariana was the highest-paid female musician in the world, ahead of the likes of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Beyonce.
Spotify success
As an artist that rose to prominence during the streaming era, it is no surprise that Ariana is one of the most streamed artists of all time.
Currently, Ariana is the seventh-most streamed act on Spotify, with more than 59 billion streams of tracks with her credited on them – some 50 billion of those are as lead artist – and second most-streamed female artist. From 2020 to 2022, she was the most streamed female, before being overtaken by Taylor Swift.
In addition, Ariana has 21 songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify – the first female artist to achieve that milestone.
Business success
Not content with being a hugely successful actress and singer, Ariana has also turned her hand to business. In 2021, she launched cosmetics brand R.E.M. Beauty, as well as a line of fragrances. The brand is known for its vegan and cruelty-free formulas, as well as a space-age aesthetic, and Ariana, as chairwoman, is hands-on in the product development and creative processes.
Currently, it is estimated that R.E.M. Beauty’s value is more than $500 million.
Social media presence
The development of the R.E.M. Beauty brand was helped by promotion on social media – and Ariana has a huge presence there. Currently, she is the sixth most followed person on Instagram in the world with 372 million followers. She also has 39.4 million followers on TikTok and 41.4 million on Facebook. Also, her YouTube channel has more than 56 million followers at the time of writing.
However, she deactivated her X (then Twitter) account, saying it had taken a toll on her relationship to work.
