Ariana Grande

From teen queen to pop star, Ariana Grande was a perfect storm of determination and talent that led to her success across several entertainment arenas. The Boca Raton native was performing on cruise ships at the age of eight, hit the storied planks of a Broadway musical while still in high school, and starred in her own television show before she was twenty. She was awarded the National Youth Theatre Association Award, her first of many prestigious awards, for her role in the Broadway musical "13" in 2008. Although she continued her success in other plays, an opportunity to play a major character for the new teen series "Victorious" (Nickelodeon 2010-13) had her leaving New York and heading for the sunny climes of California. The show ran for several seasons, and Ariana continued her love for theatre while in Hollywood when she portrayed Snow White at the Pasadena Playhouse's production of "A Snow White Christmas" (2012) alongside Charlene Tilton and Neil Patrick Harris. When production ended on "Victorious" in 2012, the network announced a new show, one that Ariana would be co-starring in alongside fellow teen actress Jennette McCurdy. Reprising her role as Cat Valentine from "Victorious" alongside Jennette's role of Sam from another Nick show, "iCarly" (Nickelodeon 2007-12 ), the buddy sitcom "Sam & Cat" (Nickelodeon 2013-14) was highly successful. For most actresses, having two successful television shows in a row might be enough, but as Ariana had herself admitted, she was both a perfectionist and a workaholic. Besides the television shows and theatrical performances, Ariana had a three-octave vocal range that made her next career as a pop singer almost inevitable. Her first single "The Way" was released in 2013 and was a huge hit, going double platinum. She released her debut album Yours Truly the same year, which featured two other hits singles, "Baby I" and "Right There." In an old-school showbiz move, Grande followed those early successes with a Christmas album, Christmas Kisses. (A second holiday colelction, Christmas and Chill, followed in 2015.) Grande's second album, the double-platinum My Everything, was released in August 2014 and landed four Top 10 singles, although increased success led to increased scrutiny: a surveillance video taken at a Las Vegas doughnut shop went viral after it caught Grande furtively licking a doughnut that was on display and making disapraging comments about American obesity levels. Later that year, Grande wrote an impassioned social media post about misogyny and double standards in popular culture that presented the singer in a more positive light. Her third album, Dangerous Woman, followed in 2016, as did a performance as Pinny Pingleton in the musical event "Hairspray Live!" (NBC 2016). Grande was unexpectedly caught in international geopolitics in May 2017 when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in the audience at her concert in Manchester, England. Shaken by the incident, Grande organized and headlined a benefit concert in the city only two weeks later. That same year, she recorded the theme to the live action "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) as a duet with John Legend, a new version of the Disney cartoon's original theme, made a hit by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson in 1991. The following year, Grande teased the release of her fourth album with a Top 5 hit single, "No Tears Left To Cry." The album, Sweetener, was released in August 2018 and included a short track called "Pete Davidson" after the comedian and actor Grande had impulsively gotten engaged to during the summer; the couple announced their split in October 2018, shortly after the death of Grande's previous boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller.