Biography
One of the brightest stars in the Disney Channel's constellation of teen talent during the early 2000s, actress Selena Gomez also enjoyed a substantially successful career as a pop singer, amassing two No. 1 albums and a slew of Top 20 singles, including the chart-topping "Lose You to Love Me" in 2019. Born Selena Marie Gomez in Grand Prairie, Texas on July 22, 1992, her childhood was marked by hardship: her parents split when she was five years of age, leaving her mother - a stage actress who was only 16 when Gomez was born - to raise her while also contending with severe financial hardship. Gomez's mother's career inspired her to try her hand at performing, and at the age of 10, made her television debut on the PBS children's series "Barney and Friends" (1992-2010). From there, Gomez steadily worked her way up from cameos in "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003) to guest appearances on Disney series, including a recurring role as Mikayla, a fellow pop star and foil for "Hannah Montana" (Disney Channel, 2006-2011). The network soon began formulating a series showcase for Gomez, and after several failed pilots, she found her star-making role as teenage witch Alex Russo on "The Wizards of Waverly Place." The series, which ran for four seasons, not only minted Gomez as a bona fide star for the tween set, which she parlayed into guest roles on various Disney television properties, as well as a star turn in the direct-to-video feature "Another Cinderella Story" (2008). Her screen popularity also helped to launch her second career as a pop singer; Gomez had already recorded the theme song to "Wizards" and contributed songs to various Disney recordings and projects before Hollywood Records - a label under the Disney Music umbrella - signed her to join its stable of teen vocal talent alongside "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, a fellow Disney star on the rise with whom she co-starred in the TV-movie "Princess Protection Program" (2009). That same year, Hollywood Records issued her debut album, a pop-rock effort billed as Selena Gomez and the Scene. The self-titled LP opened at No. 9 on the Billboard albums chart and generated a Top 30 hit with its second single, "Naturally." Between 2010 and 2012, Gomez was a ubiquitous presence in the media and pop culture: the Scene issued two more albums, A Year Without Rain (2010) and When the Sun Goes Down (2011), both of which reached the Top 5 on the albums chart, while her film career added two more box office hits, "Ramona and Beezus" (2010) and "Monte Carlo" (2011). Gomez also branched into fashion and fragrance during this period with her Dream Out Loud collection in 2010 and an eponymous scent in 2011. Eventually, she placed the Scene on hiatus with the intention of focusing solely on her film career. She scored a box office hit with Sony Pictures Animation's "Hotel Transylvania" (2010), which cast her as the teenage daughter of Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler), as well as critical praise for Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers" (2013), which cast Gomez as one of four college students who turned to crime while on break in Florida. But she soon returned to music as well, and issued a new single, this time billed solely to her, titled "Come & Get It" (2013). The worldbeat-infused song, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, preceded the release of her solo debut album, an electronic dance music-influenced effort called Stars Dance (2013), which debuted at No. 1 but dropped swiftly down the charts before eventually selling less than 400,000 copies. Undaunted, Gomez embarked on a global tour to promote the album in 2013, but canceled dates slated for the following year to contend with health issues, including the autoimmune condition lupus. The diagnosis marked the beginning of a long stint of turmoil in Gomez's professional and personal lives: her 2014 feature films, "Behaving Badly" and "Rudderless," received mixed reviews, and parted ways with not only Hollywood Records but also her mother and stepfather, who had served as her managers since the beginning of her career. She capped her tenure at Hollywood with another Top Ten single, "The Heart Wants What It Wants," before signing with Interscope at the end of the year. Her first release for her new label, the single "I Want You To Know, came in the summer of 2015, and provided Gomez with her first Top 5 single as well as what appeared to be a reversal in fortune: "Hotel Transylvania 2" (2015) was a critical and commercial success, while her second solo LP, Revival, opened to positive reviews at the top of the albums chart. Revival soon generated two more hit singles, "Same Old Love" and the chart-topping "Same Old Love," which ushered Gomez into a select group of female artists who enjoyed three singles from the same album that reached the top of the singles chart. A tour to support the album in 2016 started with a positive note, but was soon canceled after Gomez reported suffering from anxiety and depression as a result of her lupus condition. Despite this new setback, she continued to work at full capacity on both her film and music career, including co-starring roles in "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" (2016) and collaborations with DJs Cashmere Cat and Kygo. Though her health continued to be an issue, and eventually required a kidney transplant in the fall of 2017, Gomez barreled ahead with various projects, including executive producer duties on the controversial Netflix series "13 Reasons Why" (2017- ) and "Wolves," a collaboration with producer Marshmello that peaked at No. 20. The third entry in the "Hotel Transylvania" franchise, "Summer Vacation" (2018), became the highest-grossing entry in the series, while Gomez enjoyed an indie hit with her appearance in Jim Jarmusch's tongue-in-cheek zombie thriller "The Dead Don't Die" (2019). That same year, she released two back-to-back singles, the chart-topping "Lose You to Love Me" and "Look at Her Now," and was announced among the vocal cast lending their talents to various talking animals for "Dolittle" (2020), a revival of Hugh Lofting's "Doctor Dolittle" character for star Robert Downey, Jr.
