Five Things You Might Not Know About Oscar Winner Ariana Debose

Ariana Debose has been working in Hollywood for some time now but fans have only recent come around to the star following her Academy Award winning performance in Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story. Debose's sultry and fiery performance as Anita in West Side Story stole the show from stars Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort and propelled Debose into the Hollywood stratosphere.

Since West Side Story, Debose has become a Disney Princess in Wish and taken off into space in the sci-fi thriller I.S.S. As her star continues to rise, you might not recall some of the aspects of Debose's Hollywood career that helped bring the 31 year old star into the spotlight. With that in mind, here are 5 things you might not know about Ariana Debose.

5. Ariana was a background extra on the Soap Opera One Life to Live

Though it is not a prominent item on the Academy Award winners' resume, Ariana Debose did make an appearance on the daytime soap opera, One Life to Live. The then 19 year old Ariana is barely visible while performing a relatively modest dance number. Considering Ariana's background in dance, this clearly wasn't a challenging role for the future Oscar winner.

4. Debose was the first person eliminated on her season of So You Think You Can Dance

While it is among her first credits on her Wiki page, Ariana Debose's television debut on the 2009 fall season of the Fox Dance competition, So You Think You Can Dance, was rather short. So short, in fact, that she was the first dancer eliminated from the show.

Garret Withers did an incredible job demonstrating the importance of Ariana's role in Hamilton.

3. She was in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton

If you were one of the lucky people to see the original Broadway run of Hamilton, then you saw Ariana Debose in a pivotal but not front and center role. No, Ariana was not one of the famed 'Schuyler Sisters. Rather, Ariana's pivotal role was a dancer nicknamed 'The Bullet.' The Bullet is the character who is always close to running into Hamilton as he narrowly avoids death in his early life, and in the war. She finally plays her biggest part when Hamilton is killed by Aaron Burr. As Burr's gun fires, it's Debose who steps in to hold the bullet headed toward Hamilton. Throughout the show, The Bullet/Debose, is usually the last person to interact with a character just before they die. It's a great role, a very physical and meaningful role and one Debose performs elegantly.

2. Her famous BAFTA Rap Was Almost Scrapped

In February of 2023 Ariana was booked to appear at the BAFTA Awards. There, the Award winner opened the show with a showstopping introduction. In six inch heels and an incredible pink outfit, Ariana belted out what came to be called the "BAFTA Rap." But it almost didn't happen. In an interview on the Jonathan Ross Show, Debose explained that just days before the performance she was suffering from Walking Pneumonia and feared she'd have to drop out of the performance. In the end, she gutted it out but it was not an easy night for the Oscar winner. Regardless, her performance was a viral sensation.

1. Ariana's Oscar Win Was Historic in More Ways Than One

In winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2022 Academy Awards, Ariana became only the 5th person of Hispanic heritage to win an Academy Award. She also won the Award while playing a character that had already earned Rita Moreno an Academy Award in 1956. This has only happened two other times in Oscar history. In 1972 and in 1974 when both Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro won Academy Awards for playing Vito Corleone. And again in 2008 and 2019 when Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix respectively won Academy Awards for playing The Joker. And still, there is more history as Debose is the first and only queer Afro-Latina woman to have won an Academy Award.

Ariana Debose stars in I.S.S in theaters on January 19th, 2024.