Selena Gomez

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and producer. Gomez began her career as a child actress on the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004), and emerged as a teen idol for her leading role as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012). She signed with Hollywood Records in 2008 and formed the band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which released three albums: Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When the Sun Goes Down (2011).

Gomez has released three solo albums. The first of these, Stars Dance (2013), featured

"Come & Get It". She followed it with Revival (2015), and reached the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100 with its singles "Good for You" and "Same Old Love". Rare (2020) produced the US number-one single "Lose You to Love Me". She also launched the Spanish EP Revelación (2021) and her fourth album I Said I Love You First (2025) with her husband Benny Blanco. Other collaborations include "We Don't Talk Anymore", "It Ain't Me", "Wolves", "Taki Taki" and "Calm Down".

She has starred in films, including Another Cinderella Story (2008), Monte Carlo (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), Hotel Transylvania film franchise (2012–2022), The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), The Dead Don't Die (2019), and Emilia Pérez (2024). Gomez has produced series such as 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020), and Selena + Chef (2020–2023), and has played a lead role in Only Murders in the Building since 2021. Her accolades include an Actor Award, an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, two MTV Video Music Awards and 17 Guinness World Records.

Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Her parents are Ricardo Joel Gomez and Texas-born former stage actress Amanda Dawn "Mandy" (née Cornett) Teefey. She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. Her father is of Mexican descent, while her mother, who was adopted, has Italian ancestry. Gomez's paternal grandparents emigrated to Texas from Monterrey, Mexico in the 1970s. She has called herself "a proud third-generation American-Mexican", and once said: "My family does have quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church." Her Spanish fluency waned after age seven, when she began working on television.

Gomez's parents divorced when she was five years old, and she remained with her mother. Her mother and stepfather, Brian Teefey, later had a daughter, Gracie Elliot Teefey, born in 2013. Through her father and his second wife, Sara, she has a half-sister, Victoria "Tori" Gomez, and a stepbrother named Marcus. For most of her childhood, she was homeschooled, save for a brief period when she attended a traditional school as a young girl. She earned her high-school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.

Gomez was born when her mother was 16 years old. The family faced financial difficulties during her childhood, with her mother struggling to provide for the pair. Gomez recalled that they once searched for quarters to buy gasoline for their car, and her mother later said they often walked to a nearby dollar store to buy spaghetti for dinner.

Gomez has said, "I was frustrated that my parents weren't together, and never saw the light at the end of the tunnel where my mom was working hard to provide a better life for me. I'm terrified of what I would have become if I'd stayed [in Texas]." She later added that her mother "was really strong around me. Having me at 16 had to have been a big responsibility. She gave up everything for me, had three jobs, supported me, sacrificed her life for me." Gomez had a close relationship with her grandparents as a child and appeared in various pageants. Her grandparents often took care of her while her parents finished their schooling, and she has said they "raised her" until she found success in show business.

Gomez first gained an interest in pursuing a career in entertainment watching her mother prepare for stage productions. In 2002, she began her acting career on the children's television series Barney & Friends. She appeared in thirteen episodes between 2002 and 2004, as well as in two related direct-to-video films. Reflecting on the experience, she said, "I was very shy when I was little [...] I didn't know what 'camera right' was. I didn't know what blocking was. I learned everything from Barney." After two seasons, she left the show when producers felt she had outgrown the role. Gomez later had small roles in the family film Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) and the made-for-television film Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005), and guest-starred in a 2006 episode of the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

Gomez had a recurring role on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana in 2007 as Mikayla, a rival pop star. She rose to prominence later that year after being cast in the lead role of Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place. Gomez and her mother subsequently moved to Los Angeles. The series premiered in October 2007 and ran for four seasons. It became a major success for the network and established Gomez as a teen idol. The show received positive reviews, with critics highlighting Gomez's sarcastic delivery; Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times described her as "sweet and sassy" with "great comic timing". For her performance, she earned an ALMA Award and five consecutive Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite TV Actress.

In 2008, Gomez had a minor voice role in the animated film Horton Hears a Who!. She also starred as Mary Santiago, an aspiring dancer, in the direct-to-video teen musical comedy film Another Cinderella Story, the second installment in the A Cinderella Story series. Her performance earned her a Young Artist Award. She contributed songs to the film's soundtrack, including her debut single "Tell Me Something I Don't Know", which marked her first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. At age 16, Gomez signed with Hollywood Records, and formed the production company July Moon Productions.

Gomez continued working with Disney Channel in 2009, appearing in Sonny with a Chance and the crossover event Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana. She also co-starred with Demi Lovato in the television film Princess Protection Program, and reprised her role as Alex Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. The latter premiered in August to 11.4 million viewers and became the second-highest-rated cable television film of all time, behind High School Musical 2. Roxana Hadadi of The Washington Post wrote that the film was carried by the performances of its young leads—Gomez, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin. Gomez also recorded songs for the franchise's soundtrack, including "Magic", and voiced Princess Selenia in two films from Luc Besson's Arthur series.

Under her Hollywood Records contract, Gomez formed the band Selena Gomez & the Scene. She had initially said that she wanted a band project rather than a solo act, but the label preferred to attach her name to the group because of her existing "fan base". The group released three studio albums—Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When the Sun Goes Down (2011)—which peaked at numbers nine, four, and three, respectively, on the US Billboard 200. They found mainstream success with singles such as "Naturally", "Who Says", and "Love You Like a Love Song". Billboard later ranked the lattermost as the biggest hit to peak at number twenty-two in the US.

Gomez's performance as Alex Russo was noted for its comic timing and sarcastic edge, which helped distinguish Wizards of Waverly Place from comparable youth-oriented sitcoms. In later years, critics described her comic delivery as dry and deadpan, particularly when portraying Mabel Mora in Only Murders in the Building. She compared Mabel Mora to "an older version" of Alex Russo, while People noted that both characters share a dry, sarcastic wit. Steve Martin praised Gomez's approach to performance, saying that she understood that "quiet acting is powerful acting".

Gomez has expressed a preference for working with auteur filmmakers and taking on unconventional supporting roles. She described her role in Spring Breakers as a turning point in her acting career. When accepting the Spotlight Award at the 2024 IndieWire honors, Gomez mentioned having long been drawn to independent film and credited directors such as Harmony Korine, Jim Jarmusch, and Jacques Audiard with helping shape her as an actress. She also has discussed preferring smaller parts in distinctive films over more conventional leading roles, saying "I'd rather have four scenes in a Martin Scorsese film" than star in a standard coming-of-age romance.

Gomez is a pop artist whose music primarily encompasses dance-pop. Her early recordings with Selena Gomez & the Scene incorporated electronic rock and pop rock influences, before transitioning toward dance-pop and electropop on later releases. Stars Dance adopted an EDM-pop sound incorporating electronic, disco, techno, and dancehall influences, which she described as "baby dubstep". The 2014 single "The Heart Wants What It Wants" has been described as a turning point in her musical direction, introducing darker themes and more personal lyrical subject matter.

Revival incorporated dance-pop, electropop, and R&B influences, and was described as marking a more mature artistic phase in Gomez's career. Gomez said she was more creatively involved in the album's writing process than on her previous releases. Billboard wrote that Revival helped define her restrained vocal style, often described as "soft, delicate, husky, and whispery", and linked the album to mainstream pop's mid-2010s shift away from EDM maximalism toward softer, R&B-inflected production. Its follow-up, Rare, was noted for its more personal and introspective themes inspired by Gomez's experiences, while her Spanish-language EP Revelación explored reggaeton, Latin pop, and urbano influences. Critics have highlighted Gomez's artistic versatility; Entertainment Weekly critic Marcus Jones described her as "a far more versatile musician than she's been given credit for".

Writing for The Guardian, Peter Robinson credited Gomez with popularizing so-called "whisper pop", a style characterized by soft and hushed vocal performances; songs such as "Good for You" and "Bad Liar" were described as representing the apotheosis of the style. Other songwriting briefs reportedly sought a "Selena whisper sound". Producer Tainy described her voice as distinctive and said that she conveys emotion through "subtlety" rather than power. Gomez has said that her strengths as a singer lie in storytelling and performing in a lower vocal register with a softer tone. Rolling Stone critic Rob Sheffield observed that Gomez often sings about her emotions with a sense of vulnerability and described her lyrics as forming an "awesomely contorted private language" that is instantly recognizable.

Gomez has been involved with UNICEF since 2008, when she was named spokesperson for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, a Halloween fundraising campaign that raised more than US$700,000 that year. In September 2009, at age 17, she was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, becoming the organization's youngest ambassador at the time. Later that month, she undertook her first official field mission to Ghana, where she visited programs focused on clean water, nutrition, education, and healthcare.

Gomez continued her involvement with the Trick-or-Treat campaign and other UNICEF fundraising initiatives, including a benefit concert marking the campaign's 60th anniversary in 2010. From 2010 to 2013, she conducted three Acoustic Charity Concerts benefiting UNICEF, which collectively raised nearly US$400,000 for programs supporting nutrition, clean water, medicine, and education.

Her later field work included a 2011 visit to Chile, where she observed the UNICEF-supported Programa Puente initiative assisting vulnerable families with early childhood development and parenting support, and a 2014 trip to Nepal to raise awareness of children in need and access to education. She also supported campaigns addressing clean water and malnutrition, including the Tap Project in 2011 and Sound the Alarm in 2012.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gomez participated in a collective UNICEF fundraising effort supporting vaccination initiatives. In 2021, she also signed an open letter urging G7 nations to increase vaccine donations through the COVAX initiative.

Beyond her work with UNICEF, Gomez has supported various charitable initiatives. In 2009, she became an ambassador for DoSomething, and participated in Disney's Friends for Change campaign, recording the charity single "Send It On" with Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers. The song debuted at number 20 in the US and raised more than US$500,000 for conservation projects worldwide. She later became an ambassador for the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, had granted more than 90 wishes by 2013.

In 2009, Gomez appeared in advertising campaigns for Sears and Borden Milk. The following year, she launched Dream Out Loud by Selena Gomez, a clothing line distributed through Kmart that featured bohemian-inspired apparel and incorporated recycled and eco-friendly materials. She later expanded into fragrances through a licensing agreement with Adrenalina. Her self-titled debut perfume was released in 2012, followed by the fragrance Vivamore and a nail polish collection with Nicole by OPI in 2013.

From 2013 to 2015, Gomez served as a representative and guest designer for the Adidas NEO label, appearing in advertising campaigns and collaborating on seasonal collections. In 2015, she became the face of Pantene's "Strong Is Beautiful" campaign. She subsequently appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton under creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, and participated in Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke and a Song" campaign, whose associated promotional Instagram post became the most-liked image on the platform at the time.

In December 2016, Gomez entered into a partnership with Coach, collaborating with creative director Stuart Vevers on design projects and appearing in advertising campaigns. The partnership produced several Coach x Selena Gomez collections, beginning with a handbag line in 2017 and later expanding into ready-to-wear apparel. In 2017, she became a brand ambassador and collaborator for Puma, contributing to footwear and apparel collections.

In 2020, Gomez became an investor and partner in Serendipity Brands, collaborating on a flavor released in conjunction with her single "Ice Cream" with Blackpink, and later became a co-owner of the company. In 2021, she released a capsule collection with swimwear brand La'Mariette and co-founded the mental health media platform Wondermind. Wondermind raised US$5 million in funding in 2022, valuing the pre-revenue startup at US$100 million, and Gomez was included in Inc.'s Female Founders 250 list in 2024. In August 2026, Gomez and her Wondermind co-founders were sued by investors, who alleged that Gomez had failed to fulfill commitments to build and promote the company. She denied wrongdoing and pledged to seek dismissal of the claims against her. Her other business ventures include an investment in the food delivery company Gopuff, collaborations with cookware brand Our Place on collections released in 2022 and 2023, and a 2025 partnership with Mondelez International to release a limited-edition Oreo cookie inspired by horchata. A 2025 profile in Vogue Business described Gomez as having shifted from endorsement deals toward business development and ownership ventures.

In September 2020, Gomez launched the cosmetics brand Rare Beauty. The company promotes inclusivity and mental health awareness and offers cruelty-free and vegan products. Initially sold through its official website and Sephora stores in the US, the brand later expanded into Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Rare Beauty was named Startup of the Year at the 2020 WWD Beauty Inc Awards, and Gomez received the Pete Born Impact Award in 2023. The company entered the fragrance market in 2025 with Rare Eau de Parfum and expanded to Ulta Beauty stores in the US in 2026.

Initially regarded as a teen idol, Gomez was later described as a pop icon and a "triple threat" entertainer. Early coverage emphasized her broad appeal among young audiences, online influence, and cross-media visibility. In 2011, Billboard described Gomez as the "Internet queen of Disney" and highlighted her influence on social media, while The Guardian dubbed her the "Tween Queen" and noted her visibility as a Disney star across television, film, music, and consumer products. Later coverage linked Gomez's appeal to her relatability, perceived authenticity, and multifaceted career. In 2022, Alex Morris of Rolling Stone wrote that authenticity and openness about personal struggles had become central to Gomez's appeal.

Writing in 2013, Hadley Freeman of The Guardian said that Gomez had navigated the transition beyond her Disney image more successfully than some of her peers, while noting that the association could still hinder efforts to be taken seriously. Gomez has since spoken about tabloid scrutiny, the loss of privacy, and feeling defined by her personal life rather than her work. In a 2017 interview with Billboard, she said that she had often felt defined "not by my work but by who I was". She has also said that she was sexualized at a young age and later felt uncomfortable with attempts to project a more adult image.

Gomez has had a significant impact on popular culture. In 2016, David Amsden of W described Gomez as "the most popular girl in America", writing that she "embodies a particular strain of American fame: you know who she is without quite knowing who she is". Billboard ranked her at number 38 on its Top Artists of the 2010s decade chart, and Spotify ranked her as the eighth-most-streamed female artist of the 2010s. Her social-media reach has also drawn attention; Hugh McIntyre of Forbes noted Gomez's influence on social media, writing that posts mentioning her often attract unusually high engagement online. In 2016, she became the most followed person on Instagram, and the first person to reach 100 million followers on the platform, a milestone later recognized by Time in its Firsts series, "Women Who Are Changing the World". In 2023, she regained her status as the most-followed woman on the platform. The following year, the BBC reported that Gomez was the most-followed woman globally on social media. From 2022 to 2025, she was included in The Hollywood Reporter's annual Power 100 list of the most powerful women in entertainment.

Gomez's influence has also been cited by a number of artists and entertainers, including Hailee Steinfeld, Tate McRae, Millie Bobby Brown, Jenna Ortega, and Joey King. In 2015, Justin Bieber said that much of the inspiration for his album Purpose came from his relationship with Gomez. Britney Spears later cited Gomez's album Revival as an inspiration while working on her album Glory. Gomez's openness about health issues has also been praised by Lady Gaga and Miranda Hart,

and Vanessa Hudgens said that Gomez inspired her involvement with UNICEF.

Gomez has won an Actor Award, an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and two MTV Video Music Awards. She currently holds the record for the most Kids' Choice Awards wins (12) for an individual, and has been recognized with 17 Guinness World Records. She has been nominated five times for a Golden Globe Award for acting, and has also received nominations for a BAFTA Award, three Critics' Choice Awards, three Grammy Awards, a Latin Grammy Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award for acting. As an executive producer, Gomez became the most-nominated Latina producer in Primetime Emmy Awards history after receiving five nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, according to trade publications. She has also received three Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and was nominated for five Producers Guild of America Awards.

Gomez has achieved three consecutive number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Between 2011 and 2018, she recorded 15 consecutive top-forty entries on the Hot 100, the longest active run of any artist. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Gomez has accumulated 51.5 million certified units in the US, in addition to a further 21 million as part of Selena Gomez & the Scene. As of 2022, her recordings had amassed over 45 billion global streams.

Gomez has received several industry honors, including the Ultimate Choice Award at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards, the Chart-Topper Award (2015) and Woman of the Year (2017) at the Billboard Women in Music event, and Latin Woman of the Year (2025) at the Billboard Latin Women in Music. She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016, while Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2020. Billboard ranked her at number 30 on its 2025 list of the Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century.

Gomez was honored by the Latin Recording Academy as one of the Leading Ladies of Entertainment in 2020 and received the Arts Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation the same year. In 2024, she was also appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, and received the Equity in Entertainment Award at The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment gala.