He began his professional performing career by 2007, when he appeared as Boots the Monkey in a national tour of Dora the Explorer Live! (Dora's Pirate Adventure) and in regional theatre productions, including the title role in George M!, Mike Costa in A Chorus Line and Lewis in Pippin, among others. Later in 2007, he joined the Broadway cast of the musical Mamma Mia!, in the ensemble and as understudy for Eddie, in which he performed for three years.
In 2007, Grande co-founded the non-profit arts organization "Broadway in South Africa", traveling to South Africa to teach performance arts to disadvantaged youth for seven years, before the charity merged with buildOn. In 2013, Grande helped buildOn to build a school in a rural village in Malawi, in southeastern Africa, and in 2014 buildOn honored him for his efforts with its Global Impact Award. Grande is an anti-smoking advocate. Grande donated the money that he won on Big Brother 16 (from the "Team America" twist he was a part of) to buildOn, to build another school in Africa. In January 2015, he returned to Malawi to help begin construction of the school, named in memory of his grandfather. Grande raised additional money for buildOn, to fund the school, eventually surpassing his goal of $70,000. Grande participated in a 2016 fire prevention public service announcement called 2steps2minutes and the annual Broadway Bares show to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.