The Beginnings of Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American singer, actrss, and producer. Gomez, who was named after the popular Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, was raised in suburban Dallas.
At the age of 10, Selena began her career on the children's television series Barney and Friends. As a teenager she started in Disney Channel's series Wizards of Waverly Places as Alex Russo. She then landed lead roles in the theatrical film Ramona and Beezus (2010). Gomez also voiced a character in the animated Hotel Transylvania (2012) and its sequels (2015, 2018) as well as Dolittle (2020). In 2019 she appeared in Jim Jarmusch’s zombie movie The Dead Don’t Die and in Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York. She returned to TV for Only Murders in the Building (2021– ), in which she costarred with Steve Martin and Martin Short as an unlikely crime-solving trio.
As Gomez transitioned into adulthood, her fame was undoubtedly magnified by a romantic relationship with pop singer Justin Bieber. In 2015 Gomez revealed that she had been diagnosed with lupus. As a result of complications from the disease, she had a kidney transplant in 2017. During this time Gomez was also candid about her struggles with depression and anxiety, and in 2020 she revealed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In the documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me (2022), she discussed her mental health and her struggles with fame.
Fun Facts About Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez’s heritage is of Mexican descent on her father’s side, and her mother has Italian ancestry. Selena became the youngest ambassador to UNICEF in 2009 at age 17.
She has a dog named Chip who she adopted from an animal shelter. Her first kiss was when she was 12 years old with Dylan Sprouse while filming an episode of “Suite Life of Zac and Cody.” For the Netflix adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why, Selena was an executive producer. She also recorded a single for the show called Back to You.
Selena Gomez’s friend, Francia Raisa, donated a kidney to Selena in September 2017 to help her lupus recovery. Although there were complications during the surgery, she made a full recovery.
