Ariana Grande, who was working on the filming of the movie adaptation of the musical, Wicked, in 2023, wrapped it up earlier this year. She now awaits its release on November 22, 2024.
However, Wicked isn't the only movie the singer-songwriter has acted in. Besides her short cameo appearances in several movies over the years, Ariana Grande starred in a Nickelodeon movie in 2013, around the time she was playing Cat Valentine on the channel's TV show, Victorious.
Swindle, the teen comedy movie where Ariana Grande starred alongside many other Nickelodeon actors, including Jennette McCurdy, was released on August 24, 2013. In the movie, the two-time Grammy winner played the character of Amanda Benson, a cheerleader with exceptional gymnastic skills.
Ariana Grande's Swindle is based on a 2008 children's novel written by Gordon Korman
Noah Crawford is the lead character of the movie where Ariana Grande plays Amanda Benson. Crawford plays Griffin Bing in Swindle, a notorious teenager well-known for aiding his friends and classmates out of messy situations.
As the movie opens, Ben Dupree, a close friend of Bing, is in deep trouble, as his family is planning to sell their home because of Dupree's father's failure in inventing new products. As Bing and Dupree are playing around with one of his father's failed inventions, it ends up punching a hole in a wall, from where the duo recovers the famous Honus Wagner Baseball card.
Knowing the card's value, the friends take it to the nearest pawn shop right away, deciding to sell it for money. Paul Swindell, the owner of the shop, pays Bing and Dupree $350 for the card, which is more than they were expecting.
The two return home happily, only to find on news the very next morning that Swindell, having declared himself as the card's real owner, is about to sell it for $1.2 million. Feeling cheated, the friends return to the shop, demanding Swindell to return the card in exchange for the money he had paid them, which he blatantly refuses.
Not ready to give up, Bing decides to form a skillful team to steal the card from Swindell. Bing and Dupree recruit Savannah Westcott - played by Jennette McCurdy, the Sam & Cat actress- to play "the actress," Noah Munck as "the muscle," and the cheerleader Amanda Benson - played by Ariana Grande - as "the gymnast." Bing calls himself "the brains" of the team. Melissa, his younger sister and a hacker, also wants to join the team, but Bing doesn't let her.
In the first attempt Griffin's team makes at stealing the card back from Swindell, they fail miserably due to Griffin having second thoughts midway. Melissa swoops in to save them by hacking into the security system, earning her brother's approval and a spot in the team.
Before their next plan, Amanda meets Eddie, a nerd from school, to ask him for a rare collectible red-headed Captain Cybertor action figure, which is crucial to their next plan.
For the second attempt at card-stealing, the group of teens decides to meet at the Lakeshore Hotel, where Swindell was about to sell it off. There, Savannah and Darren - under the guise of two gullible German kids - pretended to be manipulated by Swindell, selling him the collectible cybertor for $10.
Happy with his purchase, Swindell goes for a massage, where Lefevre, the wealthy businessman who had offered to buy the Honus Wagner Baseball card from him, informs him of Ivan Volkov, a collector who has been looking for the cybertor. Lefevre is actually Griffin in a disguise, as it's all part of their plan.
As chaos ensue at the hotel, Swindell ends up fleeing after selling the cybertor to Volkov, who ends up being Savannah's father, whose help she had enlisted to help the gang. In the end, the real Lefevre recognizes Griffin and Ben as the real owners of the card and invites them to his house for the auction.
After selling it off at a handsome price, Griffin pays $25,000 to Ben, Savannah, Melissa, Darren and Amanda - whom the 7 Rings singer played in the film - for their help.
Initially deciding to buy back their home, Ben later finds that he wouldn't need to, as his father won a massive amount of money from his latest invention. Satisfied with the outcome, the gang walks off swaggily, having made up their minds to continue the "good work".
Eleven years later, Ariana Grande has starred in another movie, this time besides Cynthia Erivo, playing Glinda, the good witch, in the musical film. As we await the release of the movie this Thanksgiving, it has also been announced that this is only the first part of a two-part saga, and Ariana Grande will be seen in the second instalment as well.