Selena Gomez Says Her Dad is ‘Proud’ of Her Spanish in ‘Emilia Perez’

Selena Gomez’s new movie Emilia Pérez is already receiving some serious Oscar buzz, but one very special person’s praise has left a lasting impact on the actress.

While attending the premiere of her upcoming film at the 62nd Annual New York Film Festival on Monday, September 30, the Only Murders in the Building star opened up about how meaningful it is to both her and her family that her character speaks Spanish.

“It meant the world to me that [director Jacques Audiard] trusted me with that and it meant a lot to my family,” Gomez told Extra while on the red carpet. “I had coaches, yes, and we communicated every day in Spanish, but, yeah, my dad was even so proud.”

The singer went on to describe a moment when her father, Ricardo Joel Gomez, expressed how much it meant to him that his daughter was speaking Spanish.

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“He was like, ‘You’re testing me, mija,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m texting you in Spanish,’” she explained.

In the Spanish-language musical comedy, Gomez plays Jessi Del Monte, the wife of drug cartel leader Emilia Pérez (played by Karla Sofía Gascón) who, according to the film’s synopsis, attempts to fake her own death so that “Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self.”

“I really feel like this has been such a blessing in this movie,” Gomez told Extra. “I hope people understand the meaning behind it and enjoy it, and I couldn’t be more grateful to Jacques for giving me this opportunity as an actor, so I hope this is just the beginning.”

In an interview with People last month, Gomez spoke about how much it meant to play a Latinx character that she could resonate with on some level as a Mexican-American.

“It was actually really interesting because I ultimately ended up getting to develop a character who is very similar to myself,” she told the publication at the time. “And actually, I believe a lot of Latinx communities in America. I think it’s also everywhere. But I, I’m just really, I’m really glad that we were able to make her Latin American because that’s who I am.”

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Ricardo met Gomez’s mother, Mandy Teefey, when they were just teenagers living and going to school in Grand Prairie, Texas. Teefey gave birth to Selena when she was just 16 years old in July 1992. The pair divorced five years later. Gomez stayed with her mother during the week, but was able to maintain a “connection to her Mexican heritage by sharing weekends, holidays and quinceñeras with her father,” she explained to the LA Times in a 2021 interview.

“I was fluent in Spanish until I started working at 7. Then my job just kinda took over my life,” she told the outlet, before going on to explain that “embracing that part of me can be a source of healing for somebody else.”

Emilia Pérez hits theaters on November 1 and Netflix on November 13.