Selena Gomez

Gomez's paternal grandparents emigrated to Texas from Monterrey in the 1970s.

Of her heritage, Gomez has said she is "a proud third-generation American-Mexican" and "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."

Gomez's Spanish fluency waned after age seven, when she began working in television.

Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and she remained with her mother.

Gomez has two younger half-sisters and a younger stepbrother: Gracie Elliot Teefey, through Mandy and her second husband, Brian Teefey, and Victoria "Tori" and Marcus Gomez, through Ricardo and his second wife, Sara.

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress, producer, and businesswoman.

Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, to Ricardo Joel Gomez and Texas-born former stage actress Mandy Teefey.

She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, who died in 1995.

Her father is of Mexican descent, while her mother, who was adopted, has Italian ancestry.

She began her career as a child actress, starring on the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004).

In 2002, she began her acting career on the children's television series Barney & Friends, portraying the character Gianna.

The show was her first acting gig.

Gomez recalled of the experience, "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."

Gomez rose to prominence 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.

As the lead vocalist, she formed the pop rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene, and released three studio albums from 2009 to 2011; each of the band's releases have been certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Further pursuing a career as a soloist, Gomez found continued success with her solo studio albums as each debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200 upon release.

Outside of music and acting, Gomez has worked with various charitable organizations, and advocates for mental health, and gender, racial, and LGBT equality; she has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador since 2009.

Billboard ranked her as one of the most successful artists of the 2010s decade.

With over 430 million followers, she is the most-followed woman on Instagram, as of 2024.

She earned her high-school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.

Gomez was born when her mother was 16 years old.

The family had financial troubles throughout Gomez's childhood, her mother struggling to provide for the pair.

At one point, Gomez recalls that they had to search for quarters just to get gas for their car.

Her mother later recalled that the two would frequently walk to their local 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.

Gomez has starred in numerous films, including voicing Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film franchise (2012–2022).

Her EDM-inspired debut, Stars Dance (2013) yielded the international top-ten single "Come & Get It".

Desiring more artistic control, Gomez signed with Interscope Records and released the electropop set Revival in 2015, supported by the top-ten singles "Good for You", "Same Old Love", and "Hands to Myself".

On television, she produced the teen drama series 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020), the documentary Living Undocumented (2019), her cooking show Selena + Chef (2020–present), and the mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building (2021–present), in which she plays a lead acting role.

Gomez has received numerous accolades, including an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, and 16 Guinness World Records; and received nominations for four Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.

The follow-up, Rare (2020), topped the charts in eleven countries, and was led by the single "Lose You to Love Me", which marked Gomez's first number-one song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100.

She forayed into Spanish-language music with the EP Revelación (2021), which earned her career-first Grammy and Latin Grammy Award nominations.

Gomez has also released various collaborative singles, including "We Don't Talk Anymore", "It Ain't Me", "Wolves", "Taki Taki", and "Calm Down (Remix)"; the latter became the most commercially successful Afrobeats song of all time and became the best-selling collaboration of 2023 globally.

She launched the cosmetics company Rare Beauty in 2020, which was valued at $2 billion in 2024, and founded the Rare Impact Fund, a non-profit committed to raising $100 million this decade for mental health awareness.

Gomez has been featured in listicles such as the Time 100 (2020) and Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016 and 2020), and was named the Billboard Woman of the Year in 2017.