Ariana Grande Receives High Praise From 2-Time Academy Award Winner
Ariana Grande recently received her flowers from this iconic actor.
CinemaCon, the annual trade show for movie exhibitors, is currently taking place in Las Vegas at the Caesars Palace. On Wednesday, Universal Pictures premiered the trailer for their upcoming comedy movie Focker-in-Law, with stars Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller present. The movie also stars Ariana Grande as Olivia Jones and Skyler Gusondo playing Stiller's son, as well as Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, and Teri Polo, who will reprise their roles from the previous films.
The highly anticipated fourth installment in the Fockers film series and the sequel toLittle Fockers, follows an older Greg Focker (Stiller) facing his worst nightmare: his grown son, Henry (Gusondo), becomes engaged to a bold woman (Grande) who seems all wrong for him. The plot mirrors the original film, Meet the Parents, with Greg dealing with his own insecurities and meddling by his retired CIA father-in-law, Jack Byrnes (De Niro).
While presenting at CinemaCon, both actors praised Grande, calling it "an honor" to welcome her into the cast.
"[She is] probably the single funniest scene partner I've ever been lucky enough to share the screen with," De Niro said on stage.
In the trailer, the audience sees the "Problem" singer portray Olivia Jones, the loving girlfriend of Henry. In their first meeting, Olivia tells the family that she trained as an FBI hostage negotiator - and is intent on using her skills to free her boyfriend from a codependent relationship with his dad. Worse for Greg, the entire family is obsessed with Henry's new girlfriend.
Grande got her start in the industry as an actress, with her first major role in the Broadway musical 13 in 2008, when she was just 15 years old. A couple of years later, she rose to fame on Nickelodeon's Victorious and Sam & Cat, playing Cat Valentine from 2010 to 2014, before establishing herself as one of the biggest pop stars.
After focusing on her pop music career throughout the 2010s, the 32-year-old star returned to acting in Netflix's Don't Look Up in 2021, which also starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothée Chalamet, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep and Jonah Hill. From 2024 to 2025, she portrayed Glinda the Good Witch in Jon M. Chu's Wicked movies, which got her nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars and Best Supporting Female Actor at the Golden Globes.
Her co-stars are also successful in their own right. In his 50-year career, De Niro has won two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and has been nominated for nine Oscars, eight BAFTAs and ten Golden Globe awards. Meanwhile, Stiller is a very prominent actor, filmmaker, comedian and producer with multiple Emmy awards, Kids' Choice Awards MTV Movie Awards and more.
Focker-in-Law will be out in theaters on Thanksgiving Day, on Nov. 25.
Related: Ariana Grande Names '90s Icon as Her All-Time Favorite Actress
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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 2:44 PM.