Ariana Grande Has Been Changed for Good

Like so many fans of Wicked, Ariana Grande was just a kid—10 years old, to be exact—when she saw the Broadway show for the first time, and it immediately imprinted itself on her. “I loved it to death,” she says. “I know my life in two chapters: before seeing Wicked and after seeing Wicked; before seeing Harry Potter, after seeing Harry Potter. And”—she adds with a laugh—“before Little Antonio, after Little Antonio.” The latter is a reference to her performance in the viral SNL sketch “Castrati,” in which she played a young boy with a bowl haircut who’s able to hit the highest of notes after being castrated. Beyond having a once-in-a-generation voice and two Grammy wins under her belt, Grande, now 31, is famously a master of impressions—particularly of people and characters she adores, from Celine Dion and Jennifer Coolidge to Shakira and Hermione Granger. But for Wicked, she was determined not to merely impersonate Kristin Chenoweth—who originated the role of Glinda in the original Broadway production—or any Glindas who came before her, for that matter. Instead, she and Cynthia Erivo, as Elphaba, made the characters distinctly their own. Now they’re up for Golden Globe awards—with Oscar nods for both well within reach.

I know you loved Wicked as a child, but did you also love The Wizard of Oz?

Yes! I used to sit in front of the TV in my little gingham dress and study Judy Garland’s body movements, how she held herself and Toto. My first impersonation may have been Judy Garland. I’ve always had a fascination with sounds and tones and different accents—my first memory is singing with my mom in the car to Barbra Streisand or *NSYNC or “Over the Rainbow.” I don't remember a time when singing wasn't a part of my life. Strangely, I remember watching The Wizard of Oz in the gingham dress paired with a Scream mask.

Why the mask?

It was my creative vision for it. I said, "I need to put a spin on this and wear it with a Jason mask or a Scream mask" or something. But I was a huge musical fan in general. This is kind of controversial to say, but I loved Avenue Q, even though it won the Tony for Best Musical over Wicked. But Wicked, of course, is my number one.

So how did Wicked the movie come into your life?

I heard little murmurs of, "Oh, they might start auditioning people for the movie sometime soon." That was actually three or four years before my first audition. I remember asking my team to check in every now and then and say, "Hey, is this happening? Because if it is, she will pull the plug on just about anything and begin training and vocal lessons." Train my voice to sing the operatic bits, and get into acting lessons to make sure that all my tools are available to me when I need them to transition back over into being an actress, so that I could earn it. Because what was most important to me was that I earned it. I wanted to do the work.

How did you feel when they told you that you got the part?

I have never in my life felt the way I did when I found out that I got the role of Glinda in the film. I thought, Everything’s going to be okay forever now.

Did you scream?

I sobbed. And then we got to do the work!

You’re credited as Ariana Grande-Butera in the film. What compelled you to use your full name?

It was a decision that I made because this whole experience truly felt like a homecoming to little Ariana. I wanted to capture it. Also, Grande is my mom's last name; Butera is my father's last name. This feels like the most important, full-circle thing I've ever done, so I wanted to have them both be a part of this.

What was your first acting gig?

I was the bumblebee in a school play. I spontaneously did a bit onstage that I didn't ask the teacher permission to do. I ripped the stinger off of my costume and stung one of my fellow actors. I had to have been around 5 or 6.

Do you get starstruck?

Imogen Heap is my idol—my number one favorite musician, songwriter, producer of all time. The first time I got a message from her, I thought I was being catfished. She invited me over, and I thought I was going to be murdered because I didn’t believe it was real. She was so nice. She’s brilliant in every way.

What was your first red carpet outfit?

A little green minidress. It was the premiere of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and I had bright red hair because I was on Victorious at the time. I had a little cat eye because even then I loved that. I remember being really proud that I was invited to anything at all, but also thinking, This is so weird! Why do we do this? Why is this a thing? I'm able to have fun with it now.

Is there a movie that makes you cry?

The Waterboy, with Adam Sandler, makes me cry. When they're mean to Bobby Boucher, I cry. I don't like it. I love Bobby Boucher. He says, “Would you please still be my friend?” and I lose it. But I cry at everything.

Do you think you're more like a cat or a dog?

I think I have both in me. My sun is in dog, and my rising is in cat. Just because cats are so boundaried, and I have a little bit of boundaries too now, but I have the openness and emotional availability of a dog. So I have the emotional landscape of a dog, but with the boundaries of a cat.

And you land on your feet. Do you like Halloween? What was your favorite Halloween costume?

I love Halloween. My best friend, Liz Gillies, and I take Halloween pretty seriously. One year we did Showgirls, which was a favorite. The other favorite was Best in Show. I was Eugene Levy. I had two left feet, and I put gum in my Invisalign and stuffed it up so my teeth looked crazy. We hired dogs—a beautiful terrier to play Winky. I got lost in the sauce, and you couldn’t tell it was me at all.

Do you have a favorite reality show?

Probably Love Is Blind. That series is just fantastic to me.

Do you have faith that the people will stay together?

Of course, I do. Some of them do. I check sometimes. I'll go to Instagram and find these people and make sure they're still together. I need to know what's happening.

What’s your astrological sign?

I am a Cancer.

And what are Cancers like?

Cancers are watery, emotional, and open-hearted and creative. We like to be home and cozy and warm.

You have a shell.

Yes, we have a shell. But mine's a soft shell. I feel like you can see through it and there's a lot of openness that leads the way. But it's there. You earn your way in, and you get to stay.

Hair by Gabor Kerekes at Milton Agency; makeup by Michael Anthony for R.E.M. Beauty at Opus Beauty; manicure by Coralia Fuentes.

Style Director: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Hair for portfolio by Paul Hanlon at Dawes & Co.; makeup for portfolio by Sam Visser at Art Partner; manicures for portfolio by Michelle Saunders James. Set design by Gerard Santos at Lalaland.

Creative producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Leonard Cuinet-Petit at January Productions; producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Kevin Isabelle; produced by AP Studio, Inc.; executive producer: Alexis Piqueras; producer: Anneliese Kristedja; associate producer: Kimmy D’Ancona; production manager: Hayley Stephon; production coordinators: Miranda Dos Santos, Susan Lucas; photography assistants: John Neate, Jed Barnes, Chris Whitaker, Kendall Peck; digital technician: Niccolo Pacilli; digital assistant: Cassian Gray; postproduction by Dreamer Post Production; fashion assistants: Tyler VanVranken, Molly Cody, Celeste Roh, Raea Palmieri, Tatiana Isshac, Haleigh Nickerson, Lauren Marron, Savannah Steilner, Sage McKee, Frankie Benkovic, Kaley Azambuja, Tatum Sanchez; production assistants: Gigi Rosenfield, Lily Cordingley, Eli Cash, Lex Vaughn, Anderson Renno, Kat Saravia, Kyle Dekker, Wyatt Noble, Brandon Martin, Moose Krupski, Josh Muwwakkil, Bradley Gonsalves, Drew Carter, Thomas Lynch, Alex Kofman, Jackson Schrader, Anatalia Zavaleta, Joseph Wride, Matt Flynn; first AD: Steve Kemp; location manager: Kyle Hollinger; hair assistants: Kim Garduno, Ben Gregory, Marco Iafrate, Hyacinthia Faustino, Chris Foster; makeup assistants: Shimu Takanori, Laura Dudley, Brian Dean, Beatrice Sandoval; manicure assistant: Cheyenne Vander Schuur; set design assistants: Seth Powsner, Denver Stoddard, Ryan Johnson; tailors: Irina Tshartaryan, Ripsime Vartanyan, Jackie Martirosyan at Susie’s Custom Designs, Inc.