Selena Gomez's Real Name: Selena Marie Gomez

Quick answer: Selena Gomez's full name is Selena Marie Gomez. She was born on July 22, 1992, and grew up in Grand Prairie, Texas, near Dallas. She is a singer, actress, and producer known for Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, Only Murders in the Building, and her cosmetics company Rare Beauty. She was named after Tejano star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Gomez, Selena, 1992-." It cites "Selena Marie Gomez; American actress and singer-songwriter" and a children's biography saying Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22 and raised in Grand Prairie, Texas. LOC also records conflicting publisher data: one galley gave "Selena Anne Gomez" and a New York City birthplace. Britannica and most references give Marie and Grand Prairie, Texas.

Britannica says she was named after Selena Quintanilla-Pérez and grew up in suburban Dallas. Inspired by her mother, an amateur actress, she auditioned for PBS's Barney & Friends and appeared regularly in 2002–04. She made her film debut in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003).

Career highlights

Disney cast her as Alex Russo, a tomboy wizard, on Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–12), and she also sang its theme song. She voiced a character in Horton Hears a Who! and starred in Ramona and Beezus (2010) and Monte Carlo (2011). She broke from her Disney image in Spring Breakers (2012) and voiced a character in the Hotel Transylvania films. She appeared in Neighbors 2, The Dead Don't Die, and Jacques Audiard's Emilia Pérez (2024), which won the Palme d'Or.

Since 2021 she has starred with Steve Martin and Martin Short on Only Murders in the Building. In music she fronted Selena Gomez & the Scene, which released Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When the Sun Goes Down (2011). Her solo albums include Stars Dance (2013), Revival (2015), and Rare (2020), which featured "Lose You to Love Me."

Britannica notes that UNICEF named her a goodwill ambassador in 2009. She revealed a lupus diagnosis in 2015, had a kidney transplant in 2017, and in 2020 said she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She discussed it in Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me (2022). She launched Rare Beauty in 2020 and married music producer Benny Blanco in 2025.

Name notes for searchers

Marie is her middle name, and Gomez is her family surname. LOC flags an early publisher error ("Selena Anne Gomez"), but the name used by LOC and Britannica is Selena Marie Gomez. Searches for "Selena" alone may also bring up Selena Quintanilla, the singer she was named after.