Ariana Grande-Butera ( born June 26, 1993) is an American singer and actress. Born in Boca Raton, Florida , Grande began her career at age 15 in the 2008 Broadway musical . She rose to fame for her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and Sam & Cat (2013–2014). She subsequently signed with Republic Records in 2011 after the label's executives discovered YouTube videos of her covering songs. Her 1950s doo-wop -influenced pop and R&B debut album, [1] Yours Truly (2013), topped the US Billboard 200 chart, while its lead single, " The Way ", charted in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 . Grande maintained her pop and R&B sound on her second and third studio albums, My Everything (2014), and Dangerous Woman (2016), with the former exploring EDM and producing the UK number-one singles " Problem " and " Bang Bang " and the latter becomi