Ariana Grande has received her first-ever Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as her beloved role of Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked. After the full list of Oscar nominees was announced on Thursday, Grande spoke with Deadline in an interview, expressing how she felt and calling this opportunity, “the greatest gift” of her life. 

According to Deadline, Grande was at a hotel in London on a press junket for Wicked when she received the news, and she immediately took to the film’s cast group chat to celebrate. “I screamed at every single family member of ours that was nominated,” she said. “What an extraordinary morning and day for our Wicked family.”

Grande is not the only one being recognized for their outstanding work in Wicked, as Cynthia Erivo also got nominated for best actress in a leading role as Elphaba. The film also received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, music (Original Score), Production Design, and Sound. 

Portraying Glinda was Grande’s first major film role, and coincidentally one of her ultimate dreams since she was a child. “It was the greatest gift of my life being cast in this,” Grande said. “A lot of people say I manifested it, but my mom taught me at a very young age that that’s only a tiny piece of the puzzle, and that gifts like this have to be earned.”

Expressing her gratitude, Grande continued, “You don’t think in your wildest dreams that you’ll be nominated for an Oscar, you know what I mean? It feels beautiful to be in such company that I’ve admired my whole life long. And also to have that warm welcome and validation that maybe I’m in the right place at last. It’s nice to have the work recognized.” 

The 97th Oscars ceremony will air live on ABC on March 2 at 4 p.m. PT/ 7 p.m. ET from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.