Ariana DeBose Biography
Ariana DeBose is an American actress best known for So You Think You Can Dance (2009), Blue Bloods (2016), A Bronx Tale (2016), and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (2017-2018). She rose to fame after starring in the American Musical Hamilton (2015).
Ariana DeBose Career
DeBose’s first TV appearance was on the show So You Think You Can Dance in 2009, where she made it to the Top 20. After that, she was on the soap series One Life to Live and played Inez in Hairspray at the North Carolina Theatre. In 2011, she played Nautica in Bring It On at the Alliance Theatre. She was also in the ensemble of Company, a show by the New York Philharmonic that was filmed for TV. After the end of 2011, Bring It On went on a tour across the whole country. DeBose kept playing the part in the 2012 Broadway show, where she was Danielle’s understudy.
DeBose played Mary Wilson in Motown on Broadway in 2013 while Diana Ross went on to play the lead part. After that, she joined the Broadway cast of Pippin and played a nobleman, a player, and an understudy for the Leading Player part, which she eventually took over for a short time in 2014. You can hear her as Zoey Taylor, the director and choreographer, in As the Curtain Rises, a Broadway soap story podcast from the Broadway Podcast Network.
DeBose left Pippin in 2015 to join the cast of the off-Broadway show Hamilton. Late that same year, the show went to Broadway. When she quit Hamilton in July 2016, she had a special role as Sophia Ortiz on the TV show Blue Bloods. She played Daphne in the horror movie Seaside as well. DeBose played Jane in A Bronx Tale on Broadway from November 2016 to August 2017.
DeBose got her big break when she played Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego at the end of 2017. In the Broadway show, which opened in April 2018, she played the same part again. She was up for the 2018 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, even though reviews were mixed. She played the lead role in the 2018 movie Seaside, which was directed by Sam Zalutsky.
DeBose played Alyssa Greene in the movie version of The Prom, which was directed by Ryan Murphy. Jo Ellen Pellman played Emma Nolan opposite her. In March 2021, DeBose put out a dance-pop version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Shall We Dance” on the album R&H Goes Pop. The album was produced by Justin Goldner and had arrangements by Benjamin Rauhala. DeBose played Emma Tate, a schoolmarm, in the first season of the parody musical sitcom Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+ in 2021. She was the Emcee in Schmigadoon! season 2 in 2023.
DeBose played Anita in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film version of the show West Side Story, even though she didn’t want to play the part and wouldn’t even try out for it. The movie came out in December 2021 and got good reviews. Reviewers gave DeBose good reviews for her role as Anita. Caryn James of BBC said, “Anita, in a layered, dynamic performance by Ariana DeBose, is the center of attention, swirling her skirt and dancing to the Latin rhythms that permeate the film.”
Rolling Stone’s David Fear wrote, “DeBose…strong contender for Most Valuable Player here, whose energy in her singing, her dancing, her line-reading, her side-eyeing could power a metropolitan block.” She also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She was the first Afro-Latina and queer woman of color to win the latter award.
Because of how well she did in West Side Story, DeBose was chosen to host the 75th Tony Awards. The chance to host was “a bucket list moment” for DeBose. The reviews for her show were mostly good, and she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special. She also had a regular role in the fourth season of Westworld, an HBO science fiction show.
After performing at the 76th British Academy Film Awards, DeBose went viral on Twitter. In an original freestyle rap performance, she praised the female candidates by name. Variety said that the singer was “a little out of breath at some points” and that the lyrics “felt clumsy.” However, show director Nick Bullen defended the performance by saying that it was well received by the live audience, the criticism was “incredibly unfair,” and he “absolutely loved it.”
People all over the world shared the rap, and lines like “Angela Bassett did the thing” became jokes. Since then, DeBose has performed the rap live. It was DeBose who did the voice of Asha in the 2023 Disney cartoon movie Wish. The next movie DeBose will be in is the science fiction film I.S.S. A new monster movie called Kraven the Hunter, directed by J.C. Chandor, will also have her in it. She will play the lead role in the Apple TV+ spy movie Argylle.
Ariana DeBose Age
DeBose was born on January 25, 1991, in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States. She is 32 years old as of 2023, and she celebrates her birthday on the 25th of January every year.
Ariana DeBose Height and Weight
DeBose stands at a height of 5 feet 5 inches tall (1.65m) and weighs 52 kgs (114 lbs).
Ariana DeBose Partner
DeBose came out as a Queer in 2015 to her grandparents. She is in a relationship with Sue Makkoo, a costume designer and professor. The two met in 2017 while working on Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. DeBose was previously dating Jill Johnson, a theater props master. They met while working on Motown: The Musical after some time of dating, they secretly parted ways due to unknown reasons.
Ariana DeBose Family
DeBose was born in Wilmington, North Carolina to Gina DeBose, an eighth-grade teacher, and a Puerto Rican father whose name is not known to the public.DeBose has a sister named Madelyn Deutch. She has an African American and Italian ancestry.
Ariana DeBose Net Worth
DeBose has an estimated net worth of about $1 Million – $5 Million which she has earned through her career as an actress.
Ariana DeBose Salary
DeBose earns a salary of about $100,000-$500,000 annually.
Ariana DeBose Father
DeBose’s father is a Puerto Rican. His father’s name has not been disclosed to the public, so not much information is available about him. However, this information will be updated when available.
Ariana DeBose Oscar
There were 94 Academy Awards in 2022, and DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for her part as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 movie version of West Side Story. This was the second movie version of the 1957 stage musical with the same name. And with that win, DeBose became the first openly queer woman of color and the first Afro-Latina to win an Academy Award for performing.
Rita Moreno had won the same award in 1962 for her role in West Side Story (1961). DeBose’s win made her and Moreno the third pair of actors to win an Academy Award for playing the same character in two different movies. Also, DeBose won Best Supporting Actress, becoming the third Hispanic actress to do so and the first in 30 years since Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King, 1991).
She is still one of only five Hispanic actors to have won an acting Oscar. There were also BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe, and SAG Awards that year for DeBose for her work in the part. She was up for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2018 for her part in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. It was DeBose who was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award for the first time, in 2022.
Ariana DeBose Bafta Rap | 76th Tony Awards
Ariana DeBose performed at the 76th Awards Show at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 19, 2023. They were hosted by Richard E. Grant and Alison Hammond. DeBose’s performance was a dedication to the women who were nominated. She sang versions of “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge and “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” by Aretha Franklin and Eurythmics. DeBose paid tribute to the night’s nominees with a post-Hamilton rap in between songs.
DeBose’s Bafta rap went viral because, in typical theater kid style, she said something so sincere but so wrong that it was just plain fun. Since the show, Broadway music director Benjamin Rauhala shared a video of DeBose practicing and going over the rap lyrics, which makes the jokes even funnier. Finding out that the line readings went as planned is a beautiful thing.
It was hard to understand DeBose’s performance when she didn’t have enough air, which caused her words to be cut off and her reading of “Angela Bassett” to sound strange and almost melodic. Her sharp dance moves, especially the finger waving, are just as interesting, though they might not be right for the song. Ziwe, who likes camps reenacted them to the letter on Instagram. Still, the idea that Bassett is famous just for doing what he did is interesting in and of itself.
An answer was given by both BAFTA and DeBose herself. After the performance went viral, DeBose deleted her Twitter account. However, she later said she loved the song on an Instagram meme carousel shared by Evan Ross Katz. After the performance, DeBose went on “The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show” on BBC Radio 2 and talked about it. The interview aired on February 27, 2023. In a peek that was in the Daily Mail, DeBose said that the show’s goal was to honor women.
Ariana DeBose Hamilton
DeBose plays the role of The Bullet in the Musical Hamilton. During the song “Blow Us All Away,” the bullet tells Philip Hamilton where to find George Eacker. Philip then fights George Eacker and kills him. The Bullet brings Burr’s desk out on stage at the start of “Your Obedient Servant” and gives him a quill to write the famous letter that set off the deadly fight.
The spy who was killed between “You’ll Be Back” and “Right Hand Man” was also she. She was also the last person seen with John Laurens before he died. “I can’t believe we’re here with him” is another thing she is heard saying. This makes Burr more hopeful of winning, which makes his loss hurt even more.
She walks forward during “The World Was Wide Enough” while Hamilton talks, bringing the bullet closer to him until other members of the cast come on stage to stop it. She stood for bad things or treason. Death had always found her to be the cause of it.
Ariana DeBose Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Debose plays the role of Disco Donna in the Donna Summer musical. The Disco Donna was an American singer and songwriter who became famous during the disco era in the 1970s. She was called the “Queen of Disco,” and people all over the world loved her music. She plays Donna Summer alongside LaChanze (Diva Donna), a 2018 Tony nominee, and Lever (Duckling Donna), who is the Grammy winner of different ages.
DeBose says that the three of them told each other everything they knew about the late singer and songwriter. They focused a lot on body language, gestures, and movement. They incorporated anything that would give them the resemblance of a through line because they all are tasked with different parts of Donna’s life.
Ariana DeBose Westworld
DeBose plays the role of Maya in the American TV series Westworld. Maya is a terrible person to live with. She puts pressure on Christina to go on a date, but then she leaves her, leaving the shy Christina to walk home alone, right into the path of her crazy stalker. Maya broke the most important rule of being a female friend or neighbor when she didn’t care about Christina’s safety.
The host who used to go by the name Dolores Abernathy is dead, but actor Evan Rachel Wood is back. She is now a writer with auburn hair called Christina who works at Olympiad Entertainment and makes up stories for video game non-player characters. At first, Christina’s life looks like it’s going great. In her mind, New York City is a perfect place to live, full of shiny tech and well-dressed businesspeople. There’s a cool girl named Maya who lives with her. But it looks like something is wrong with the world, and Christina might be the only one who can see it.
Christina’s social life is being shaped by Maya, who wants her to meet guys and go dancing. Maya doesn’t seem to get that Christina would rather paint and hang out at home than look for guys in the city. Christina doesn’t like the date Maya sets her up on at all.
Then Maya left Christina, which is the worst thing a woman can do to her best friend when they are out on the town. Even though the streets look safe, Christina is caught by a stalker with a knife as she walks home alone. Christina’s life is in danger for a short time, but a mystery hero saves her. All that’s hurt is a small cut on her arm.
Ariana Debose Argylle
DeBose will be cast in the upcoming spy action comedy Argylle which is set to be released on February 2, 2024. Elly Conway is an introverted spy novelist who doesn’t like to leave her house very often. But when the plots of her books get too close to the actions of a dangerous underground group, she is pulled into the real world of espionage. A secret agent named Aiden comes to Elly’s aid to protect her from being kidnapped, killed, or both. He throws her and her beloved cat Alfie into a world where nothing is what it seems.
Ariana DeBose Kraven the Hunter
DeBose will play the role of Calypso: A voodoo priestess and Kraven’s love interest in the upcoming American superhero film. The film is set to be released on August 30, 2024.
Ariana DeBose House of Spoils
DeBose will be cast in the upcoming American supernatural horror film House of Spoils which is yet to be confirmed on the date of release.
Ariana DeBose Movies and TV Shows
- Bubble Guppies
- Westworld
- 75th Tony Awards
- Human Resources
- Saturday Night Live
- Schmigadoon!
- Wish
- I.S.S.
- Once Upon a Studio
- West Side Story
- The Prom
Ariana DeBose Social Media Platforms
DeBose is very active on her Instagram, and Facebook pages and she has 711.7k followers on Instagram and 32.3k followers on Facebook.