Troye Sivan hosted Ariana Grande at his Passover Seder
Australian Jewish singer and actor has a new album, 'Bloom,' and is appearing in new film, 'Boy Erased'.
By AMY SPIROUpdated: SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 21:20 Troye Sivan performs "Youth" at the 2016 Billboard Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., May 22, 2016.(photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
If you haven’t yet heard the name “Troye Sivan,” then take note. The 23-year-old Australian actor and singer is one of the most buzzed-about artists of the past few months. And he’s a nice Jewish boy.In an appearance last week on Bravo's WatchWhat Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Sivan recounted the first time he held a Passover Seder by himself, away from his parents. And who was on the guest list? None other than multi-platinum singer and recording artist Ariana Grande.“I grew up nice and Jewish, and my parents live in Australia, and this is my first Passover alone,” Sivan told host Cohen. “So we had a little Passover, and it was star-studded, if I may say so myself.”Sivan said that “Ariana Grande came, which I was stoked about, [actor] Lucas Hedges – it was like an event, it was fun.... We ate some matzah, and that was the end of that.”The singer added that Grande “is like weirdly Jewish; like I feel like, deep in her soul somewhere, there’s a little bit of Yiddishkeit.”Sivan, who was born Troye Mellet in South Africa, uses his middle name, Sivan, as a stage name. As a youngster in Australia, he attended the Orthodox Carmel School, but his parents pulled him out after he was bullied.In a 2016 interview with Ryan Seacrest, Sivan recounted coming out to his parents as a teenager. He said he was discussing religion with his father, who told him that “I don’t really like what a lot of traditional Judaism says about LGBT people.” Sivan said he took a minute-long pause and then he told his father that he is gay.“He kind of just looked at me, gave me a big hug, and he was amazing about it,” Sivan said. “I’ve never looked back. My whole family’s been so supportive.”Sivan first found fame as a YouTube star when he was a teenager, but in recent years he has seen serious mainstream success. His second studio album, Bloom, was released last month, and he is receiving buzz for starring in the upcoming film Boy Erased.
The young actor appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday to discuss the film, which is about conversion therapies forced on young gay men and women.“I hope that the movie is going to speak mostly to parents,” Sivan told Colbert. “Just [to show] how much your reaction to your kid coming out can really shape their lives.”
