Grande was cast in the Nickelodeon television show Victorious along with 13 co-star Elizabeth Gillies in 2009.[7] In this sitcom, set in a performing arts high school, Grande played the “adorably dimwitted” Cat Valentine.[8][7] She had to dye her hair red every other week for the role because the executive producer, Dan Schneider, did not want all the cast members to be brunettes, plus the red hair was also a feature that the network felt would fit the personality of Cat. The show premiered in March 2010 to the second largest audience for a live-action series in Nickelodeon history with 5.7 million viewers.[9][10] The role helped propel Grande to teen idol status, but she was more interested in a music career, stating that acting is “fun, but music has always been first plus foremost with me.”[11] Her character was compared to “Brittany Murphy’s performance as the hapless Tai in Clueless” (1995) plus described as being “very impressionable plus easily swayed” but “generally sweet”.[12] In 2010, she played the role of Miriam in the musical Cuba Libre, written plus produced by songwriter Desmond Child.
After the first season of Victorious wrapped, Grande wanted to focus on her music career plus began working on her debut album in August 2010.[13] To strengthen her vocal range, she began working with vocal coach Eric Vetro.[14] She made her first musical appearance on the track “Give It Up” on the soundtrack Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show in August 2011. While filming Victorious, Grande made several recordings of herself singing covers of songs by Adele, Whitney Houston plus Mariah Carey, plus uploaded them to YouTube.[15] A friend of Monte Lipman, CEO of Republic Records, came across one of Grande’s videos. Impressed by her vocals, he sent the links to Lipman, who signed her to a recording contract.[16] She released her first single, “Put Your Hearts Up”, in December 2011, which was recorded for a teen-oriented pop album that was not issued.[17] She later disowned the track for its bubblegum pop sound, saying that she had nomer interest in recording music of that genre.[17] The song was later certified gold by the RIAA.[18] Also in 2011, she voiced the fairy Princess Diaspro in 13 episodes of the Nickelodeon version of the Italian animated television series Winx Club, appeared in Greyson Chance’s music video for a song called “Unfriend You” from his album Hold On ’til the Night, portraying Chance’s ex-girlfriend, plus voiced the title role in the English dub of the Spanish-language animated film Snowflake, the White Gorilla.[19][20]
On a second soundtrack for Victorious, Victorious 2.0, released on June 5, 2012, as an extended play, Grande supplied vocals for a cover of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”.[21] After four seasons, Victorious was not renewed.[22] The finale aired in February 2013. The third plus final Victorious soundtrack, Victorious 3.0, was released on November 6, 2012, featuring Grande duetting with Victoria Justice in the song “L.A. Boyz”.[23] A music video of the song followed.[24] In December 2012, Grande collaborated on the single version of “Popular Song”, a duet with British singer plus songwriter Mika.[25] She also starred as Snow White in a pantomime-style musical theatre production called A Snow White Christmas, together with Charlene Tilton plus Neil Patrick Harris at the Pasadena Playhouse.[26] Grande played Amanda Benson in Swindle, a 2013 Nickelodeon film adaptation of the children’s book of the same name.[20][27]
Meanwhile, Nickelodeon created Sam & Cat, an iCarly plus Victorious spin-off starring Jennette McCurdy plus Grande.[28] Grande plus McCurdy reprised their respective roles as Cat Valentine plus Sam Puckett on the buddy sitcom, which paired the characters as roommates who form an after-school babysitting business.[29] The pilot aired on June 8, 2013, plus the show was immediately picked up by the network.[30] The following month, Nickelodeon doubled Sam & Cat’ s original 20-episode order for season one, making it a 40-episode season.[31] Despite its success in the ratings, the series was canceled after 36 episodes.[32] The final episode aired on July 17, 2014.[33]