Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of former stage actress Mandy Teefey (née Cornett) and Ricardo Joel Gomez.Her father is Mexican American and her mother is of half Italian descent.Regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez 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 [that we] go to the park and have barbeques on Sundays after church."Her birth parents divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised as an only child by her working mother.In 2006, Mandy remarried Brian Teefey.She is named after Tejano singer Selena.In a 2009 interview with People, Gomez mentioned that she developed an early interest in acting from watching her mother prepare for and act in theater productions.She earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.
Gomez began her acting career at age seven, playing Gianna on Barney & Friends.She later had minor roles in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and the TV film Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire. Gomez also starred in the television movie Brain Zapped.
In 2004, Gomez was discovered by the Disney Channel in a nationwide scouting.Gomez appeared as a guest star on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and had a guest appearance – that later turned into a recurring role – on Hannah Montana from season's two to three. Gomez previously taped two different pilots that were spin-offs to two previous Disney series.The first one, What's Stevie Thinking?, was the spin-off to Lizzie McGuire. Gomez played Stevie Sanchez, Miranda Sanchez's little sister. The other show was titled Arwin!, the spin-off to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, in which she played Alexa. Neither series was picked up.
Gomez's first theatrical film Ramona & Beezus premiered on July 23, 2010 and met with generally positive reviews.In March 2010, Variety reported that Gomez was set to star as one of the three lead roles in Monte Carlo, alongside Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy.In the film Gomez plays Grace, a girl who’s “mistaken for a socialite while on a trip to Paris.”To prepare for the role Gomez learned how to play polo and also took two weeks of vocal training to learn two different British accents.The same year Gomez confirmed that the fourth season of her hit Disney Channel show, Wizards of Waverly Place, would be its last.
In February 2011, Deadline.com reported that Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment had acquired the novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher with Gomez attached to the lead.That same month TV Guide reported that Gomez would make a cameo in the upcoming Muppets film. Production for the final season of Wizards of Waverly Place came to a wrap on May 14, 2011.Gomez co-hosted the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards on June 19.
