Ariana Grande’s alleged new boyfriend – and Wicked co-star – is reported to be a Nice Jewish Boy from Washington. According to TMZ, the two met on the set of the Broadway musical-turned-film and have recently started dating.

Ethan Slater was born to Jewish parents Jay Slater and Ellen Goldmuntz, and raised in a conservative Jewish household. He has previously said in an interview with the Times of Israel that Judaism has informed “every aspect of his life”.

As a child, the Slater family belonged to Ohr Kodesh shul, where he had his Bar mitzvah. He attended the Charles E Smith Jewish Day School in Washington DC, and took classes at Shoresh Hebrew High throughout high school, which was co-founded by his dad. 

Slater shot to fame in 2018 with a starring role in the Spongebob Squarepants Musical. He first watched the show which inspired the musical “at [his] bubbe’s house,” he told Variety.

He's previously discussed how his suburban family didn’t have cable, and he entertained himself instead by spending summers at the “camping arm of Conservative Judaism,” Camp Ramah, which aims to “inspire commitment to Jewish life”.

Other alums of the camp have gone on to have similar successes – Ben Platt won a Tony for Dear Evan Hansen, and Caissie Levy plays Elsa in the Broadway adaptation of Frozen.

Slater met Ariana Grande on the set of Wicked, the demanding production schedule of which reportedly triggered the singer's split from her husband, whom she married in 2021.

Slater, meanwhile, has been married to high school sweetheart Lilly Jay since 2018. They welcomed their first child this January, posting a picture of their baby in a onesie reading “Wicked cute”.

Slater and Grande only started dating after the couple split, according to TMZ.