15 Celebrities Whose Wildest Career Dreams Actually Came True

1.All the way back in 2011 (a full decade ago!), Ariana Grande tweeted how her dream was to play Glinda in Wicked someday:

And just this month, it was finally announced that she'll be playing the role in the long-awaited Wicked movie adaptation opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba:

And that's not the first time Ariana flexed her manifestation skills. Recently, she revealed that she called up Nickelodeon when she was only 4 years old and asked for an audition:

Ariana Grande telling Jimmy Fallon she called universal studios and asked to audition for all that or the amanda show
NBC / Via youtube.com

Of course, she would eventually become a huge Nickelodeon star — playing Cat Valentine in Victorious and later reprising the role in Sam & Cat:

  Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon

2.Beanie Feldstein went to her third birthday party dressed up as Fanny Brice — the subject of the musical Funny Girl:

  Beanie Feldstein / Via instagram.com
Beanie Feldstein / Via instagram.com

And in 2021 it was announced that Beanie would be playing Fanny ON BROADWAY, to which she said, "Sometimes dreams actually do come true":

3.In 2018, Simu Liu put this tweet out into the universe about wanting to play Marvel's Shang-Chi:

And, well, in 2021, obviously the rest is history — not only did he land the role, but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a massive hit:

  Marvel
Marvel

4.Simu wasn't the only recent Marvel superhero to show off his ~powers~ of manifestation. Barry Keoghan had a special request back in 2013:

And Kumail Nanjiani took a fan photo with Stan Lee himself:

Of course, both Barry and Kumail would go on to star in Eternals as Druig and Kingo respectively:

  Everett Collection
Everett Collection

5.In a 2013 "25 Things You Don't Know About Me" interview with US Weekly, Questlove shared his goal of playing a corpse on Law & Order: SVU:

  Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Sony Pictures
Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Sony Pictures

Just a few months later, in February 2014, his dream came true! Ice-T shared this iconic photo of him on set:

6.Back in 2020, Jordan Fisher tweeted about wanting to sing along with the cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series:

The rest was, as they say, history when Jordan appeared on Season 2 as Gina's brother Jamie:

7.In 2013, Tom Holland was asked what superhero he would want to play, and he said this:

Tom Holland saying maybe Spider-Man in like 10 years' time...the reboot of the reboot, if they made one

Of course, the reboot of the reboot was fast-tracked, and he started playing the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 2016 — three years later instead of 10:

  Marvel
Marvel

8.Way back in 2017, Rachel Zegler tweeted about wanting to be a real Disney princess after playing Ariel in her high school school production of The Little Mermaid:

Turns out, dreams do come true — Rachel was recently cast as Snow White in the upcoming live-action Disney movie:

9.Back in 2009, Christina Perri posed in front of her car, which had an "I Heart Edward Cullen Sticker" on it:

Caption: The moment I realized this photo was taken in 2009 before I got a record deal Before I wrote a thousand years for twilight manifest your dreams y'all
Christina Perri / Via tiktok.com

Of course, she would eventually write a little song called "A Thousand Years" for the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 soundtrack. The song has been certified nine times platinum:

And yes, I consider

And yes, I consider "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri a pivotal role in the Twilight Saga.

Spotify

10.Since Marvel notoriously keeps things under wraps, Teyonah Parris knew she landed a role in a project...but still didn't know what it was. So she said this to her agent:

Teyonah asking what if it's Monica Rambeau

Teyonah has spoken about how she'd previously been fan-cast for the role.

Disney+

Of course, the role DID end up being Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, and the rest is history. Teyonah will reprise the role in 2023's The Marvels:

11.Brie Larson tweeted this to a fan about the Oscars in 2015:

Twitter: @brielarson

And this was her at the 2016 Oscars, with her award for the role of Ma in Room:

  C Flanigan / FilmMagic / Getty Images
C Flanigan / FilmMagic / Getty Images

12.In her audition for Disney Channel, Selena Gomez joked about how she and her friend would always play around with glowsticks and draw the iconic Mickey Mouse logo:

Selena saying she and her friends would play around and say "I'm Selena and you're watching Disney Channel"

This, obviously, came true many times over:

  Disney Channel / Via youtube.com
Disney Channel / Via youtube.com

13.All the way back in 2013, Dove Cameron dreamed of playing a live-action version of Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls:

In 2021, Dove WAS cast as Bubbles for the CW's live-action series. The pilot was shot but ultimately scrapped, and the latest update is that Chloe Bennet dropped out of her role as Blossom. However, Dove and Yana Perrault (Buttercup) are still attached...so it's just some slightly delayed manifestation for now:

14.Late last year, Keke Palmer caused some confusion after excitedly tweeting about Season 5 of Insecure:

This ultimately led to Keke getting cast on the show as Condola's sister Kira, which she revealed on Instagram almost exactly one year later:

  HBO
HBO

15.And Emma Roberts shared this pic from when she was 7, with the caption, "Never underestimate your power to manifest your dreams ladies..."

Of course, she eventually appeared in Scream 4 in 2011:

Emma Roberts in Scream 4
Dimension Films / Courtesy Everett Collection