Selena Gomez
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.
Gomez is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and advocates for mental health and equality. She founded the cosmetic company Rare Beauty, which was valued at $2 billion, and the Rare Impact Fund. Recognized in listicles such as the Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016 and 2020) and Time 100 (2020), she has received various awards and honors, including Billboard's Woman of the Year (2017), and Latin Woman of the Year (2025). She is the most-followed woman on Instagram and one of the wealthiest musicians.
Early life
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.
Career
2002–2006: Career beginnings
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.
2007–2012: Breakthrough with Disney and Selena Gomez & the Scene
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 expanded into feature film roles with the family comedy Ramona and Beezus (2010), based on Beverly Cleary's Ramona series, in which she starred opposite Joey King as Beezus Quimby. The film was well received by critics; Roger Ebert described it as "a sweet salute" and found both actresses "appealing". In 2011, she starred in the romantic comedy Monte Carlo, playing dual roles as Grace and her lookalike, British heiress Cordelia Winthrop-Scott, alongside Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy.
The film received mixed reviews, and critics were divided on Gomez's performance, with some finding her portrayal of Cordelia unconvincing. She also made a cameo appearance in the film The Muppets.
2012–2014: Stars Dance and films
During 2012, Selena Gomez & the Scene went on hiatus, which ultimately became a permanent split. Gomez described her time with the band as an "exploratory period" before deciding to pursue a solo music career. That year, Wizards of Waverly Place ended its run on the Disney Channel after four seasons. Gomez next sought projects that moved her beyond her Disney image.
She starred in Harmony Korine's independent crime film Spring Breakers (2012), alongside James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson. The film premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, and was released in March 2013. Gomez portrayed Faith, a religious college student whose spring break trip takes a criminal turn. Spring Breakers received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed US$31.7 million worldwide against a budget of US$5 million.
It was later described as a cult classic. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that the film gave Gomez "the chance to simulate the behavior that feeds the tabloids" without the "humiliations" or "career-crushing price" associated with it.
Gomez voiced Mavis Dracula in the animated film Hotel Transylvania (2012). The film received mixed reviews and grossed US$358 million worldwide. In 2013, she starred opposite Ethan Hawke in the action thriller Getaway, playing a young hacker. The film was panned by critics and became a box-office bomb, with some critics describing her as miscast.
That year, she served as executive producer and reprised her role as Alex Russo in the Disney Channel television special The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex.
Despite earlier claims that she would take a break from music, Gomez released "Come & Get It" in April 2013 as the lead single from her solo debut album. It became her first top-ten entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number six, and also reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. The song later won Best Pop Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.
The album, Stars Dance, was released in July 2013. Rooted in EDM and electropop, it debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 97,000 copies, and also reached number one in Canada. The record received mixed reviews from music critics, some of whom felt she had yet to establish a distinct musical identity. Its second single, "Slow Down", achieved moderate success.
Gomez embarked on her Stars Dance Tour in August 2013. After performing in North America and Europe, she canceled the Australian and Asian legs of the tour in December 2013, wanting to take time for herself. In January 2014, it was reported that she had spent two weeks in treatment at the Meadows facility in Arizona. She later revealed in 2015 that she was diagnosed with lupus and underwent chemotherapy, leading her to cancel tour dates in 2013.
In 2014, Gomez had a supporting role in the drama Rudderless, the directorial debut of William H. Macy, and starred in the teen comedy Behaving Badly. The former received mixed reviews, while the latter was critically panned, though critics deemed Gomez's performance superior to the film. That year, she ended her management arrangement with her mother and stepfather, who had managed her since her Disney years. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the move reflected a strategy to pursue more adult-oriented work in film and music. She subsequently signed with the WME and Brillstein companies to manage her career.
In November 2014, Gomez released the single "The Heart Wants What It Wants" and confirmed that she would issue a compilation album to complete her contract with Hollywood Records. "The Heart Wants What It Wants" peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her second top-ten hit in the US. Later that month, she released her first greatest hits album, For You, which debuted at number twenty-four in the US. Gomez officially parted ways with Hollywood Records and signed with Interscope Records in December 2014.
2015–2016: Revival
While working on her then-upcoming second studio album, Gomez collaborated with German DJ and producer Zedd on "I Want You to Know", released in February 2015, which peaked at number seventeen in the US. Later that year, she reprised her voice role as Mavis in Hotel Transylvania 2; the film received mixed reviews and was a commercial success, grossing US$475 million worldwide. She also made a cameo appearance in Adam McKay's film The Big Short.
Gomez released her second studio album, Revival, in October 2015. Primarily a dance-pop and electropop record with R&B influences, it received positive reviews from critics, who praised its production and lyrical content. Writing for Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos described the album as "the sound of a newly empowered pop artist growing into her strengths like never before." Some critics later described Revival as an influential pop album of the 2010s.
The album opened at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 117,000 album units in its first week. Its lead single, "Good for You" featuring rapper ASAP Rocky, debuted at number one on the Digital Song Sales chart with first-week sales of 179,000 copies—the highest sales week of her career for a single. The album's first three singles—"Good for You", "Same Old Love", and "Hands to Myself"—each reached the top ten in the US and topped the Pop Airplay chart, making Gomez the sixth woman to achieve three Pop Airplay number-ones from a single set. "Kill Em with Kindness" was released as the album's fourth single. Gomez received the Chart-Topper Award at the Billboard Women in Music event.
In 2016, Gomez continued promoting Revival, appearing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. She also starred alongside Paul Rudd in the comedy-drama The Fundamentals of Caring. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix in June 2016. It received positive reviews from critics.
She also appeared in the comedy film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, and had a supporting role in James Franco's drama film In Dubious Battle, which received mixed reviews.
Gomez embarked on her worldwide Revival Tour in May 2016. She began working on her third studio album while touring and added a new song titled "Feel Me" to the tour's setlist; it was later released in 2020. After touring North America, Asia and Oceania, she canceled her European and South American dates in August 2016 to seek treatment for anxiety, panic attacks and depression caused by lupus.
She subsequently entered a treatment facility, where she remained for 90 days. That year, Gomez was featured on Charlie Puth's single "We Don't Talk Anymore", an international success that reached the top ten in the US, Australia, France and Spain, and topped the chart in Italy. She also appeared on Cashmere Cat's "Trust Nobody".
In November 2016, Gomez made her first public appearance in several months at the American Music Awards, where she won Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and was nominated for Artist of the Year. She was also nominated for Top Female Artist at the Billboard Music Awards.
2017–2019: Standalone releases and 13 Reasons Why
Gomez and Norwegian DJ and producer Kygo released the single "It Ain't Me" in February 2017. The collaboration reached the top ten on most major music charts worldwide, including the US and the UK, and attained top-five peaks in Australia, Canada, Germany and many European countries. In May, Gomez released the single "Bad Liar", accompanied by a vertical music video available exclusively on Spotify.
It was the platform's first vertical music video. The song peaked at number twenty in the US, and received widespread critical acclaim, with some deeming it Gomez's best song to date; Billboard ranked it as the best song of 2017. She followed it with "Fetish" featuring rapper Gucci Mane, and "Wolves" with Marshmello, which reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, the UK, and several European countries, while peaking at number twenty in the US. Later that year, Gomez was named Billboard's Woman of the Year.
📚 Source: Wikipedia
