Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993), known professionally as Ariana Grande (/ˌɑriːˈɑːnə ˈɡrɑːndeɪ/), is an American singer and actress. She began her career in the Broadway musical 13, before landing the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious in 2009. After four seasons, the show ended, and Grande starred in the spinoff, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014. She has also appeared in other theatre, television, and film roles and lent her voice to animated television and films.
Grande's music career began with the soundtrack Music from Victorious (2011). She signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album Yours Truly in 2013, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "The Way", reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her wide vocal range to Mariah Carey's.
Grande's second studio album, My Everything (2014), also reached number one in the United States. With the singles "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang" and "Love Me Harder" from that album, she spent 34 continuous weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and had the most top 10 singles of any artist in 2014. In 2015, she promoted My Everything with her first world tour titled The Honeymoon Tour and guest-starred in Fox comedy-horror TV series Scream Queens. In 2015, Grande released the lead single "Focus" from her upcoming third album Moonlight, released a holiday EP album, Christmas & Chill, and she was heard on several collaborative projects.
Grande's accolades include two American Music Awards, the Music Business Association's Breakthrough Artist of the Year, an MTV Video Music Award, an MTV Europe Music Award, and two Grammy Award nominations.
Ariana Grande-Butera was born in Boca Raton, Florida, to Joan Grande, chief executive officer of telephone and alarm system company Hose-McCann Communications, and Edward Butera, who owns a graphic design firm in Boca Raton. Her name was originally inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat (1959). Grande is of Italian descent, half Sicilian and half Abruzzese. She has experienced hypoglycemia. She has an older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who is an actor, dancer, and producer. Grande's mother moved with her father from New York to Florida when she was pregnant with her. She has stated that her parents separated when she was around 8 or 9 years old.
As a child, Grande performed with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater, playing her first role as Annie, as well as performing in the musicals The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast. At the age of 8, she performed at a karaoke lounge on a cruise ship, in various orchestras such as South Florida's Philharmonic, Florida Sunshine Pops and Symphonic Orchestras, and made her national television debut singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Florida Panthers. She attended Pine Crest School and North Broward Preparatory School.
By age 13, she became serious about pursuing a music career, though she still concentrated on theater. When she first arrived in Los Angeles to meet with her managers, she expressed a desire to record an R&B album when she was 14: "I was like, 'I want to make an R&B album,' They were like 'Um, that's a helluva goal! Who is going to buy a 14-year-old's R&B album?!'" In 2008, Grande was cast in the supporting role of cheerleader 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. She also sang various times at the New York City Jazz club Birdland.