Ethan Slater is celebrating Ariana Grande’s first Academy Award nomination!
The Wicked actor, 32, shared a rare photo of his girlfriend and costar, 31, looking out a balcony window from inside a bedroom following her big news.
Wearing an oversized white T-shirt, Grande was also surrounded by several pink balloons — no doubt a nod to her character Glinda’s signature color.
Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu, scored 10 total 2025 Oscar nominations, which were announced on Thursday, Jan. 23, by Rachel Sennott and Grande and Slater’s Wicked costar Bowen Yang. Also among its nods are Best Picture and Best Actress (Cynthia Erivo).
Grande is joined in the Best Supporting Actress category by Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Isabella Rossellini (Conclave) and Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez).
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Shortly after the nominations announcement, Grande shared an Instagram post of herself as a toddler dressed similarly to Judy Garland’s iconic Wizard of Oz character Dorothy, as well as an undated video of her singing portions of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked and photos of her in costume as Glinda with costar Erivo, 38, as Elphaba.
“Picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition. I cannot stop crying, to no one’s surprise,” the actress and pop star began her caption on the celebratory post.
“I’m humbled and deeply honored to be in such brilliant company and sharing this with tiny ari who sat and studied Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow just before the big, beautiful bubble entered. I’m so proud of you, tiny,” she wrote in her post. “Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for this acknowledgement @theacademy.”
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Ethan Slater/Instagram
In her post, Grande also thanked director Chu, 45, “for taking this chance on me and for being the most unbelievably brilliant leader, human being, and most fierce friend,” in her caption before she turned her attention to Erivo.
“I am so deeply proud of my beautiful Wicked family. I am so proud of my Elphie, my sister, my dear @cynthiaerivo. your brilliance is never ending and you deserve every flower (tulip) in every garden. i love you unconditionally, always,” she added. “I don’t quite have all my words yet, I’m still trying to breathe. But thank you. Oh my goodness, thank you.”
Conan O’Brien is set to host the Oscars ceremony, which will air live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu.
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