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Despite acting since she was a child, leading one of Disney Channel's top sitcoms, Wizards of Waverly Place, starring in A24 cult classic Spring Breakers, and landing Golden Globe and Emmy nods for her lead role in smash hit series Only Murders in the Buildings, Selena Gomez still has trouble convincing casting directors to give her a shot.
When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about her most recent feature in Netflix musical Emilia Pérez, which released earlier this month, Gomez shared that people often tell her that's she's not the right fit for a project before she's even read for the role. In order to work around any preconceived notions of her casting directors may have, Gomez said she hides her identity prior to auditions.
"If they think I'm too young for a part, or whatever the case may be, we use a tactic where we don't tell them it's me auditioning so that they just have to accept me auditioning," she said. "Because sometimes even them just hearing that I want to audition, they'll be like, 'No, that's not going to match for what we're doing.' Or it's, 'We're going to hire people that nobody knows,' and then they hire, like, Austin Butler, and I'm like, 'Cool.'"
She added, "But I'm not angry, it's the position I have and it's OK. It just means I'm going to continue to do things that are hopefully compelling and different."
When asked if she auditions under a different name, Gomez replied, "I'll sometimes send in a tape when they don't know it's me, or if it's in person, my managers will just say, 'Oh, we have a client that'll have a read.'"
She continued, "And it worked on one of the movies I did, because they looked at me as I walked in and I thought I'd lost it immediately because they went, 'Ooohh.' I was like, 'No, no, no, no. Just let me read.' It was Fundamentals of Caring, a cute little movie [with Paul Rudd]. And it worked, I got it. You kind of have to do the dance." In the film, Gomez played hitchhiker Dot, and the project was praised for the chemistry among co-stars Rudd, Craig Roberts, and Gomez.
Gomez returned to Disney in October for spinoff Wizards Beyond Waverly Place alongside actor David Henrie, with the duo reprising beloved characters Alex and Justin Russo.
When discussing projects and potential roles in the future, Gomez told THR: "I have goals of wanting to work with specific people, people on my dream board, and so whenever those opportunities arise, I'll put myself in that room, no matter what it takes."
She added, "And I'll say, 'Let me show you that I can do it.'"
