Yes, Ariana Grande’s first acting gig involved her gently stabbing a young co-star

No matter how you feel about Ariana Grande, it’s clear she was born to be a star. And thank god, because if we lived in another reality where she wasn’t blessed with those incredible vocal and acting talents, she would make a great serial killer. 

In a January interview for a W Magazine cover story, Grande shared how her love of Wicked came to be, as well as how she first began her acting career. Her very first role was playing a bumblebee in a play at her school (We all start somewhere!). The role was also her first foray into the world of improv, and an example of her killer instincts. “I spontaneously did a bit onstage that I didn’t ask the teacher permission to do,” Grande admitted. Like a true artist in the making, she followed this improvisational inclination wherever it led her. “I ripped the stinger off of my costume and stung one of my fellow actors. I had to have been around 5 or 6.” Grande’s penchant for violence began early, but thankfully it’s only the kind that belongs in the theater. 

If you’ve followed Grande’s career from the beginning, this side of her won’t come as a surprise. She’s a true “scream queen” through and through, and not just because she played one of the Chanels in Ryan Murphy’s excellent show of the same name. No, Grande’s family has embraced their love for all things horror for years. Grande’s mother Joan spoke with Elle for a 2018 cover story about her daughter, telling the publication she was “goth before goth was goth,” and let’s just say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

She threw Grande a Jaws-themed birthday party at the tender age of four and describes her Halloween decor as something “that would give normal children nightmares.” “I would go to the butcher, get heart organs or lungs, and then be like, ‘Ariana, Frankie, this is a heart,’” Joan shared. “The kids would paint blood on the walls. I remember Ariana’s little handprints.” 

Thank your lucky stars the younger Grande decided to follow her destiny as an entertainer, instead of pursuing a career in the macabre. Though it looks like her interest in horrifying things never waned, given she named the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer as her dream dinner guest during a guest spot on Podcrushed. Still, her love for musicals won out in the end, and she’s now holding space as Glinda alongside Cynthia Erivo’s excellent Elphaba in Wicked. 

Much like her interest in the macabre, Grande’s love for Wicked began at a young age. She told W Magazine she used to watch the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, and analyze Judy Garland’s performance as Dorothy. Strangely enough, she also watched the film while wearing a “gingham dress paired with a Scream 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,” Grande said of her unconventional childhood sartorial choice. I’m holding space for her to bring back the Ghostface mask to a red carpet sometime during the Wicked promotional tour. If anyone can pull it off, it’s her!