Ariana Grande Finds New Creative Fire In Front Of The Camera

18 November 2025

Ariana Grande at the 'Wicked: For Good' New York Premiere on Nov. 17, 2025. John Nacion/Variety/Getty Images

Ariana Grande is stepping onto red carpets this season with the glow of someone who has discovered a fresh source of creative energy, and it is not the place most fans first met her. The multi Grammy winning singer, now 32, is in full movie star mode as she promotes Wicked: For Good, the second chapter of the blockbuster musical adaptation, and she is surprisingly clear about where her heart is leading her. Acting, she admits, is the thing that excites her most right now, even as the world still knows her first as a pop phenomenon.

In a recent sit down with the Today show, Grande described her current headspace with the kind of calm certainty that comes from having already climbed one mountain and finding another in view. She explained that she is genuinely having fun sinking into characters, whether on a film set or under the stage lights. Acting, she said, is what she feels most inspired by at this moment. For fans anxious that this might mean the end of those soaring vocals, she offered reassurance, promising that she will keep singing, although the balance is shifting for now.

That shift makes sense when you look at the year she has had. Wicked turned her into a fully fledged film actress in the eyes of Hollywood, not just a pop star crossing over for a cameo. Her turn as Glinda in last year’s first Wicked film drew a flood of recognition, with nominations from the Oscars, Critics Choice Awards, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes and other major voting bodies. For someone who began on Broadway as a teenager and then found fame in bright Nickelodeon comedies, being embraced by the film establishment feels like a full circle and a level up all at once. It confirms that the kid who once belted show tunes on stage has grown into a performer who can carry a major studio musical on her shoulders.

Her theatrical roots are never far from her mind. Grande talked about how special it would be to find the right project that brings her back to live theater. The idea of returning to the stage is still a dream for her, but now it has to fit into a schedule suddenly crowded with film sets and premieres. Rather than mapping out a rigid plan, she sounds almost protective of this new chapter, repeatedly calling herself grateful and describing her career as a ride that she is simply happy to be on.

When Wicked: For Good lands in theaters on November 21, it will be only the first of several chances for audiences to see her as an actress in the coming years. She has already wrapped another film, Focker In Law, the fourth entry in the beloved Meet the Parents franchise led by Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Grande joined the cast earlier this year and quietly finished shooting on Halloween, later telling fans that she had officially completed the project. Talking about the experience, she sounded less like an industry veteran and more like the kid who once watched those comedies at home, admitting that she grew up adoring Stiller and that nearly everyone she worked with on the film was someone she had idolized for years. Sharing a set with them, she said, felt like a genuine dream coming to life.

All of this big screen momentum does not erase the fact that she remains one of the most successful pop artists of her generation. Her latest studio album, Eternal Sunshine, arrived in March 2024 and became another deeply personal entry in a discography that has helped define modern pop. A deluxe edition followed, featuring the single Twilight Zone, proof that even while she was trading in her signature high ponytail for Glinda’s crowns, the songwriter in her was still very much awake. What has changed, she explained, is the way she views the relationship between these two sides of her career. Rather than picking a lane, she has come to see that acting and music nourish one another. When she immerses herself in a character, it feeds back into the emotional depth of her songs. When she returns to the studio, the discipline and storytelling she has honed on set inform how she builds a record.

She admitted that for a long time that balance was missing. Pop stardom is a consuming job, and there were years when touring, recording, promotion and public scrutiny left little space for anything else. Now, as she stands in a place where she can choose projects more deliberately, she seems determined to protect that equilibrium. The plan, as much as she is willing to define one, is to keep listening to what feels creatively honest in the moment, whether that is a script, a score, or a melody waiting to be written.

For fans, the immediate future is clear. Wicked: For Good arrives in cinemas in November, with Grande once again floating into view as Glinda, while Focker In Law is set to reach audiences in 2026. Between those releases and any music she chooses to share, Ariana Grande is not disappearing. She is simply reframing herself, inviting the world to see her not only as a voice on the radio, but as a full scale storyteller whose most powerful instrument right now might just be a character on screen.