Selena Gomez is an actress, singer, and philanthropist who rose to fame at an early age. She has become a huge inspiration for millions of people today. Although, just like everyone else, Selena had to come from somewhere. This is her story.
The Beginning
Selena Marie Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas on July 22, 1992.
She was born to Ricardo Joel Gomez and Amanda Dawn Cornett. Selena's father is Mexican while her mother is Italian. She has two younger half-sisters as well.
When she was born, her mother was only 16 years old. Her family had financial troubles during her childhood. Selena's mother gave up everything to raise her.
When Selena was only 5 years old, her parents divorced, and she remained with her mother. Selena had a very close relationship with her grandparents growing up.
Selena gained her high school diploma from homeschooling in 2010.
Start Of Her Career
Selena first spiked an interest in the entertainment industry while watching her mother prepare for stage productions.
Selena began to audition for various roles. She met Demi Lovato during her audition for Barney and Friends. Gomez got selected to appear on the show in 2002 along with Lovato. She played the character Gianna.
Between 2002 and 2004, she appeared on 13 episodes. The producers let Selena go because they stated that she was becoming “too old” for the show. While Gomez was playing on Barney and Friends, she got a cameo role for the movie Spy Kids 3-D:Game Over.
She also got a cameo role in the show Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire. She made a guest appearance in 2006 on an episode of the Disney show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
Disney Channel And Selena Gomez And The Scene
In 2007, Selena was given a recurring role on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.
Gomez eventually won the role of playing Alex Russo in a Disney series called Wizards Of Waverly Place. Once she got this role, her and her mother moved to Los Angeles. Wizards of Waverly Place became a hit for Disney Channel.
Selena recorded the theme song for the show called “Everything Is Not What It Seems.” Selena appeared in the music video for the Jonas Brothers song called ”Burnin Up.”
Selena recorded a cover of “Cruella de Vil” for a Disney compilation album. She also recorded an original song called “Fly To Your Heart” for the animated movie Tinker Bell. Gomez played Mary Santiago in the movie Another Cinderella Story. She recorded three songs for the movie's soundtrack, and she released one of them with her band.
Her band was called Selena Gomez and The Scene. Gomez voiced as Helga in the animated movie Horton Hears A Who! The movie was a great success.
When Selena was 16, she signed a recording contract with the Hollywood Records label. In 2008, she formed her own production company that she called July Moon Productions. Under her production company, she was said to release two films.
The first film she was said to release was a movie called What Boys Want. Later, Gomez announced a film adaptation of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why. Unfortunately, neither films were ever made. However, later on she will executive produce a television adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why.
Throughout that following year, she made many guest appearances on shows such as Sonny With A Chance and The Suite Life on Deck. Both Selena and Demi Lovato starred in a Disney movie called Princess Protection Program which aired in June 2009. The film had a total of 8.5 million viewers during the premiere. On August 28, 2009, Gomez starred in Wizards Of Waverly Place:The Movie.
Through her record deal, Selena formed her band called Selena Gomez & the Scene.
In August 2009, the band released their debut studio album which debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200. The band had success with heavy promotion through Disney Channel and performances. In 2010, the band released their second studio album. The album was called A Year Without Rain.
In 2010, Gomez starred in the film Ramona and Beezus. This film premiered on July 23, 2010.
Selena also launched her own fashion line in 2010 which was called Dream Out Loud. Her fashion line consisted of Bohemian dresses, jeans, jackets, floral tops, hats, and scarves. All the things in her fashion line were made of recycled or eco-friendly materials. Selena teamed up with designers Tony Melillo and Sandra Campos to design her fashion line.
In 2011, she starred in the movie Monte Carlo as Grace. Selena began a relationship with Justin Bieber in the same year until 2014. Also, that same year, Selena Gomez and The Scene released their third and final album. On November 6, 2011, she hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Stars Dance And Movies
In 2012, Selena confirmed that she would be taking a break from music. Later, she was cast in the animated film Hotel Transylvania.
Despite stating she would be taking a break from music, she later announced she was working on new material. Selena confirmed that she would be releasing her solo debut album, and she released “Come & Get It” which became the lead single from the album.
Her first album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart was Stars Dance. Selena went on her Stars Dance tour on August 14, 2013. She canceled the Australian and Asian part of the tour claiming that she would be taking time to spend with her family. However, in January 2014, it was reported that she had spent two weeks at a treatment center that specializes in treating trauma and addiction in young people.
In 2015, Gomez confirmed that she had been diagnosed with lupus and had canceled the tour to undergo chemotherapy. In April 2014, Selena fired her mother and stepfather as her managers. She later signed with WME and Brillstein to manage her career. She released her single “The Heart Wants What It Wants” on November 6, 2014.
On November 24, 2014, she released her first solo compilation album For You. In December 2014, she signed a recording contract with Interscope Records. Also, in 2015, she became the face of Pantene.
Personal Struggles
On June 22, 2015, she released “Good For You” as the lead single from her second studio album.
Selena appeared in the documentary Unity in August 2015. She was also reprised in the animated film Hotel Transylvania 2. She released her second studio album Revival on October 9, 2015. Gomez was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on January 23, 2016.
Gomez went on her Revival tour on May 6, 2016. However, she ended up canceling the European and South America part of the tour due to panic attacks, anxiety, and depression which were all caused by her lupus. In 2016, she did a collaboration with Charlie Puth and made the song “We Don't Talk Anymore”. She also appeared in the drama film The Fundamentals of Caring in 2016.
After the cancelation of her tour, she rechecked into her treatment center and disappeared from all social media. She made her first appearance again at the 2016 American Music Awards.
2017-Present Day
On February 16, Gomez released a song with Kygo called “It Ain't Me”. Selena is the executive producer for the Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why which premiered on March 31, 2017. Selena launched her own website on May 18, 2017.
She released her song “Fetish” on July 13, 2017. Gomez and Marshmello released a song together on October 25 called “Wolves.” On May 10, 2018, she released a single called “Back To You”.
She played her same role in the movie Hotel Transylvania 3:Summer Vacation. In 2019, she appeared in the film The Dead Don't Die. Selena became the executive producer of the Netflix documentary series Living Undocumented.
She released the song “Lose You to Love Me” on October 23, 2019. It was announced in May 2020 that Gomez would host and executive produce Selena+Chef. In August 2020, Gomez was announced to star in and executive produce the comedy series on Hulu called Only Murders In The Building.
Philanthropy
Selena participated in St. Jude's Children's Hospital “Runway For Life” benefit in October 2008. In that same month, she was named UNICEF's spokesperson for the Trick-Or-Treat for UNICEF campaign. Gomez became the youngest UNICEF ambassador at the time.
She traveled to Ghana on September 4, 2009, for a week to witness the conditions of the children that lack vital necessities such as clean water, education, etc. For the second year in a row, Selena was named spokesperson for the Trick-Or-Treat for UNICEF campaign in 2009. She raised over $700,000 for the charity in 2008, and she hoped to raise 1 million dollars for the charity in 2009.
In February 2011, she traveled to Chile to meet with the families of UNICEF's supported program which helped families be able to better understand and develop skills to deal with early childhood education, development, etc. In 2014, Gomez visited Nepal to raise awareness for kids in need.
