Frankie Grande Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

Frank James Michael Grande Marchione, better known as Frankie Grande, is an American dancer, singer, actor, producer, television host and YouTube personality. He is the half-brother of pop singer Ariana Grande.

FRANKIE GRANDE BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Frankie Grande was born on January 24, 1983 (Frankie Grande’s age: 40) in New York City to Victor Marchione and Joan Grande. His father has been employed as a physician while his mother is chief executive officer of the telephone and alarm system company Hose-McCann Communications.

Although born in New York, Grande was raised in Englewood, New Jersey up until the age of ten, when he moved with his mother to Boca Raton, Florida. Along with Ariana Grande, Grande has a half-brother, James Marchione. Grande graduated from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania in 2005, where he triple-majored in biology, dance and theatre. He had considered medical school before deciding to take a year off in order to pursue theatre.

FRANKIE GRANDE BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

Grande began his professional performing career in 2007, when he appeared as Boots the Monkey in a national tour of Dora the Explorer Live! Later that year, he joined the Broadway cast of the musical play Mamma Mia. He has also gone on to produce shows both on and off Broadway, including popular productions such as Hamlet and Born Yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Grande discusses his first experience with singing and acting that made him decide he wanted to pursue it as a profession.

“It was fifth grade. I was auditioning for “Bye Bye Birdie” and I was singing Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” as the audition for the show, and I got to the part where I was like, ‘fly, fly.’ She was like, ‘Thank you so much,’ like to try to stop me, but I didn’t stop. I just kept going. I got cast as “Conrad Birdie” and I was just like, I’m addicted to this. This is my life now. I will be a performer for the rest of my life, and that was it.”

Grande then spoke about his experience filming the newly released horror LGBTQ+ film, Summoning Sylvia.

“I think the resolution of the film being a drag number is extremely timely,” Grande admitted. “But also really fun. It was just a really great time on set to get to do that, so I think that was probably my most fun thing that I got to film was the drag number at the end of the movie. I just love being in drag. I’m not a professional drag queen, but I wish I was. I wish I could do the hair and the makeup and the padding. It’s just a lot of work, but I love when other people do it for me and I get to just walk around in heels and kill it. That’s really fun.”

When asked how he hoped the audience would walk away from Summoning Sylvia, this is what Grande had to say:

“I hope they walk away with a sense of a good time. Everyone seems to be leaving the theaters and the screenings and their viewings at home with a big smile on their face, and that’s kind of what I hope that this film brings, is just a little joy into the world because we need it these days and I think there’s no shortage of good feeling. We need this kind of film. It’s very uplifting. So, I hope that people leave just with a smile on their face and thinking like, wow I just left a movie that was entirely LGBTQ+, directed, written, lead actors, produced, and it spoke to me and I had a great time.”

FRANKIE GRANDE BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

Grande has been openly gay from a young age. In May 2022, Grande married to Hale Leon, whom he had been dating since 2019. Grande admitted to being nervous about revealing his sexuality to his sister, Ariana. However, Grande has said that she was cool about it, claiming that the conversation “went really, really well.”

Grande won the title of ‘Mr. Broadway’ at the charitable event known as Mr. Broadway in 2007. In 2007, Grande established Broadway in South Africa, a non-profit arts organization aimed at enriching the lives of underprivileged youth. Over the course of seven years, he dedicated his time to traveling to South Africa, where he taught performance arts to those in need. In 2013, Broadway in South Africa teamed up with buildOn to build a school in a rural village in Malawi, southeastern Africa. Grande also donated his prize money from Big Brother to help build another school. To this day, he continues his impactful work through this organization.

In his free time, Grande enjoys playing the guitar and piano. He’s also a huge fan of video games, like his husband. He’s an avid reader as well, his favorite book series being Harry Potter.

He recently became a board member of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).