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Ariana Grande wins special award from National Board of Review, gets SAG nod for ‘Wicked’

By Andrea Dresdale Jan 8, 2025 | 10:14 AM
Universal Pictures

Ariana Grande didn’t win the Golden Globe for her performance in Wicked, but she and her co-star Cynthia Erivo shared a special honor on Jan. 7 at the National Board of Review’s annual gala in New York City.

At the event, Wicked was named best film and its director, Jon M. Chu, was named best director. While neither Ari nor Cynthia won best actress or best supporting actress — those honors went to Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, respectively — they did receive the NBR’s Spotlight Award. Specifically, the honor went to the “Creative Collaboration of Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande, Wicked.”

In her acceptance speech, Ari said collaborating with Cynthia on Wicked was “the honor of my life.” She wrote on Instagram, “thank you so much @nbrfilm for this honor and for celebrating our @wickedmovie family and our brilliant and most deserving director @jonmchu.”

And in other Wicked accolade news, both Ari and Cynthia have received Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for their work in the film: Ari for supporting actress and Cynthia for lead actress. Plus, the movie itself is nominated in the category of outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. The SAG Awards will be handed out live on Netflix on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. ET.

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