Selena Gomez’s Ethnicity and Family Roots
Selena Gomez is an American singer and actress who starred in Wizards of Waverly Place and Only Murders in the Building and founded Rare Beauty.
- Nationality
- American
- Born
- July 22, 1992, Grand Prairie, Texas
- Birth name
- Selena Marie Gomez
Where Selena Gomez’s roots are on the map
What is Selena Gomez’s ethnicity?
Selena Gomez is half Mexican and half Italian. Her father’s family comes from Mexico and her mother has Italian roots, as she explained in a 2008 interview, when she was 16 and starring on Wizards of Waverly Place.[1] She was born in Grand Prairie, Texas, near Dallas, in 1992.[1]
Her first name is a tribute to the Tejano star Selena Quintanilla. Her father was a fan of the singer.[1][2]
Where are Selena Gomez’s parents from?
Father’s side
Grandfather
Mexican
Grandmother
Mexican
Father
Ricardo Joel Gomez
Mexican
Mother’s side
Grandfather
Grandmother
Mother
Mandy Teefey
Italian
Selena Gomez
Father’s side
Her father’s family immigrated from Mexico to Texas in the 1970s, and her father, Ricardo Joel Gomez, was born there. Over the following four decades, other relatives worked to secure U.S. citizenship.[3][4] The Texas birth index lists him as Selena’s father.[5]
Gomez wrote about this history in Time in 2019, when she executive-produced the Netflix series Living Undocumented about families facing deportation. The series, she wrote, captured the shame, uncertainty and fear she had seen her own family struggle with.[4]
In 2021 she released Revelación, her first record entirely in Spanish, and worked with language coaches to sing it. In a short film for YouTube she told her family’s story, from her grandparents in Mexico to her own career.[2]
Mother’s side
Her mother, Mandy Teefey, was born in Texas and was 16 when Selena was born. After her marriage to Selena’s father ended, she married the talent manager Brian Teefey.[6] Teefey’s family has Italian roots.[1] Mother and daughter later produced the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why together.[6]
In her own words
“My Dad is Mexican and my Mom is Italian, so I’m half Mexican, which is a big part of my life, which is why I was named after the singer Selena, so I think that’s awesome, but yes, I am half Mexican.”
“In the 1970s, my aunt crossed the border from Mexico to the United States hidden in the back of a truck. My grandparents followed, and my father was born in Texas soon after. In 1992, I was born a U.S. citizen thanks to their bravery and sacrifice.”
“I wanted to share my story, because I am very proud of who I am.”
Sources
- ShowBizCafe: Selena Gomez and Jake T. Austin on being Latin (September 13, 2008)
- Remezcla: Selena Gomez Talks Family & ‘Revelación’ in Latest Artist Spotlight Stories on YouTube (September 15, 2021)
- Time: Selena Gomez, I Feel Afraid for My Country (October 1, 2019)
- FOX 7 Austin: Selena Gomez pens emotional essay about immigration crisis (October 2019)
- Texas Birth Index via FamilySearch: Selena Marie Gomez, parents Ricardo Joel Gomez and Mandy Dawn Cornett (July 22, 1992)
- Cosmopolitan: Everything You Need to Know About Selena Gomez’s Mom, Mandy Teefey (May 10, 2018)
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