One thing that can’t be denied is Selena Gomez’s versatility as an artist. As an actress, she made her screen debut at the young age of seven, as part of the TV show Barney & Friends, a show that will have its documentary airing on Peacock in 2022. However, her big break was with Disney, where she starred in several films and series, including Wizards of Waverly Place, and made guest star appearances in Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Shortly after, she made her singing debut with Hollywood Records, releasing three studio albums, two soundtracks, twenty-five singles as a lead artist, and several music videos. Moreover, Gomez decided to go one step further and took on the challenge of executive producing the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, starring Dylan Minnette and Katherine Langford. This series was successful and renewed for four seasons, although it was shrouded in quite a bit of controversy.
She is currently starring in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short. Gomez has amazed us throughout her life by starring, producing and even giving voice to characters in animation films, including Mavis, the adorable child of Dracula in Hotel Transylvania, a movie which is expected to have a fourth sequel in 2022. Here’s a list of all of Selena Gomez’s movies, ranked.
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15 Behaving Badly (2014)
Mad Chance; Starboard Enteertainment
Rick Stevens (Nat Wolff) was willing to do anything to conquer Nina Pennington (Selena Gomez), the prettiest and most popular girl in High School. However, the decisions he made to achieve his goal were not smart at all, and he had to deal with some complicated situations and very peculiar characters.
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Directed by Tim Garrick, and starring Nat Wolff, Selena Gomez and Austin Stowell, Behaving Badly was the screen version of Ric Browde’s novel While I’m Dead Feed the Dog. Sadly, it didn’t get very good reviews. In fact, it scored 0% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, and the audience score was not great either at 29%.
14 Getaway (2013)
Dark Castle Entertainment
An adaptation of 1972’s The Getaway, Courtney Solomon’s Getaway followed the story of Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke), a racing car driver who was forced to go on a mission after his wife was kidnapped. He had the sole help of a young hacker (Selena Gomez), and the only hope to save his wife was to follow the orders of a mysterious voice that was keeping an eye on them through cameras installed in the car. A remarkable fact about this movie is that the accident scenes and car collisions are totally real: over 130 cars were wrecked during the making of the film.
13 In Dubious Battle (2016)
AMBI Pictures
This film both starred and was directed by James Franco. It followed Jim Nolan, a man who helped start a migrant workers’ strike against landowners during the apple growing season in central California in 1930. The script, written by Matt Rager, was based on the novel by John Steinbeck.
In this film, Gomez surprised audiences with a role quite different from the ones she used to perform: Lisa London, a feisty mother and stepdaughter of one of the workers on strike.
12 Monte Carlo (2011)
Fox 2000 Pictures
Grace (Gomez), her step-sister (Leighton Meester) and best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy) spent all of their savings on a long-awaited trip to Paris in Monte Carlo, but all their dreams were crushed when their journey turned out to be far less glamorous and much more disappointing than they expected.To take their minds off this, the girls sneaked into a luxury hotel, and one of them was mistaken for a British heiress named Cordelia. Before they could reveal their true identities, they were drawn into a series of misadventures that led to a wonderful vacation in Monte Carlo…until the real Cordelia showed up.
This romantic comedy was directed by Thomas Bezucha and was released in 2011, garnering $23.2 million at the box office. However, its Rotten Tomatoes score only reached 40%.
11 Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003)
Troublemaker Studios
When spy Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) learned that his sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) was trapped in an evil video game, he had to undertake a rescue mission. In order to save not only Carmen but also the future of the world, Juni had to win the game from the inside and confront the game creator.
Spy Kids 3D: Game Over was directed by Robert Rodriguez, and Selena Gomez had a small role as “the waterpark girl”. The cast also included Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Ricardo Montalban, Salma Hayek, Holland Taylor and Sylvester Stallone, among others. It was recently announced that the Spy Kids are making a comeback.
10 A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
Gravier Productions
Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York featured the story of Gatsby Welles (Timothée Chalamet) and Ashleigh (Elle Fanning), a young couple who decided to spend a weekend together in New York City. As a journalist, she was on her way to interview a renowned filmmaker, and they seized the opportunity to spend some time together and explore the city. Unexpectedly Ashleigh got other plans that would take her to meet a famous actor, so Gatsby was left alone in the city and ended up spending the day with his ex-girlfriend’s sister (Gomez). The rainy weekend was filled with encounters and misunderstandings as Ashleigh found out things she didn’t know about herself, and Gatsby was left to sort out his feelings.
This film was shrouded in some controversy after allegations of sexual assault were made against Woody Allen. In light of those allegations, Gomez donated her salary from the film—and then some—to Time’s Up.
9 The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
Kill the Head
Something strange was happening in Centerville in The Dead Don’t Die: animals were acting oddly, daylight hours were shifting unpredictably, and the moon never set. Scientists were concerned, and the news reports were unsettling. It turned out a strange invasion was about to happen, one where the dead would rise from their graves. The residents of Centerville were forced to band together to stop this threat and battle for survival.
This movie was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and starred Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Gomez and Tom Waits.According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics gave the film a score of 54%, while the audience score was a mere 38%.
8 Princess Protection Program (2009)
Rainforest Productions
This Disney movie followed the story of Princess Rosalinda (Demi Lovato), a young girl with all the luxuries of royalty at her fingertips. However, her life drastically changed when an abusive dictator took over her country. In order to protect her life, Rosalinda had to join the Princess Protection Program and was forced to move into the home of one of the officers in rural Luisiana.There she met the agent’s daughter, Carter Manson (Gomez) who, after a not-so-hopeful start, taught the princess how to act like an ordinary girl in order to stay under the radar.
7 Rudderless (2014)
Unified Pictures
In Rudderless, directed by William H. Macy, we followed the life story of Sam Manning (Billy Crudup), a successful business executive and family man whose world came crashing down after his teenage son Josh (Miles Heizer) died in a school shooting. Utterly defeated and drowning his sorrows in alcohol, Sam came across a box of his son’s music and discovered how talented he was. That is why he decided to put together a band to distribute his son’s creations and honor his talent. However, an unexpected encounter with Josh’s ex-girlfriend (Gomez) in which she confronted him for appropriating his son’s music led Sam to discover a hidden truth and to reconsider his future.
6 Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)
Good Universe; Perfect World Pictures
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising was directed by Nicholas Stoller. In this film, Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) were looking to sell their house and move to a bigger space, but it was not going to be easy for them because of their brand new neighbors: the girls of Kappa NU, a college fraternity that was always throwing parties. To fix the problem and evict these noisy frat girls, the couple relied on their old enemy: Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), head of the Delta Psi Beta sorority, and Pete (Dave Franco). However, it was not an easy task, because the Kappa Nu were feisty girls with no intention of leaving. In this movie, Gomez appeared as the strict, rule-obsessed President of the Phi Lamda fraternity.
5 Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009)
Pretty River Productions
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie follows along the adventures of the well-known Russo family, stars of the Disney series The Wizards of Waverly Place. During the summer, this magical family decided to go on a well-deserved vacation to the Caribbean, the place where Jerry (David DeLuise) and Theresa (Maria Canals-Barrera) met. Alex (Gomez), tired of being controlled by her parents, accidentally cast a spell wishing her parents had never met, causing them to forget each other, and consequently their own kids as well. Alex and Justin (David Henrie) had to go deep into the jungle to find the Wishing Stone, their only way to reverse the spell. Meanwhile, younger brother Max’s (Jake T. Austin) mission was to keep an eye on his parents so that they wouldn’t get into trouble.
The film was directed by Lev L. Spiro and shot mainly in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The whole cast of the series appeared in the production, although Jennifer Stone only played a small role at the beginning of the film.
4 Spring Breakers (2012)
Muse Productions
In the Harmony Korine-directed film Spring Breakers, we joined Faith (Gomez), Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Cotty (Rachel Korine), four young, party-hard friends who dreamed of having the greatest spring break in the world. So great was their desire that, unable to afford the vacation, they went on a restaurant heist. However, their wild plans did not turn out as they had hoped, and they were eventually arrested and taken to prison. Just when they gave it all up for lost, a mysterious man appeared, paid their bail and set them free. So what were this man’s intentions? Oh, they certainly weren’t good: Alien (James Franco) was a drugs and arms dealer who took the girls on a trip they’ll never forget.
3 Ramona and Beezus (2010)
Ramona (Joey King) was a little kid with a great imagination, boundless energy, and accidental stunts that had everyone’s attention on her. She just loved to be mischievous and her sister Beezus (Selena Gomez) was sick and tired of her messing up all of her plans. However, her unstoppable sense of fun, excitement and mischief proved to be very useful after their father (John Corbett) lost his job and Ramona took it upon herself to save her family’s home.
Ramona and Beezus was inspired by the book series of the same name, written by Beverly Cleary, and it was directed by Elizabeth Allen. The movie earned rave reviews, garnering a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer.
2 Another Cinderella Story (2008)
Dylan Sellers Productions
This rom-com directed by Damon Santostefano and starring Selena Gomez and Drew Seeley was a follow-up to the movie A Cinderella Story (2004) featuring Hilary Duff. It’ s a modern version of the Cinderella story in which we follow the life of dancer Mary Santiago (Selena Gomez), who after her mother’s passing was forced to work for the pop diva Dominique Blatt, while being constantly harassed by her daughters. Mary’s only hope in life was to eventually succeed as a ballerina just like her mother, and now that Joey Parker (Drew Seeley) a well-known dancer returned to graduate school and reconnect with the origins of his dancing passion, Mary regained her hopes. The school masquerade ball would be her chance to get closer to the Joey, but Mary accidentally loses her MP3 player during the encounter.
1 The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
Netflix
The Netflix original production The Fundamentals of Caring dealt with friendship, pain, inner growth and the way facing our inner demons can make us move forward in life. Directed by Rob Burnett and starring Paul Rudd, Gomez and Craig Roberts, the movie told the story of Ben (Rudd), a writer who gave up his dream to be a caregiver after suffering a personal tragedy. Six weeks into his training, he met his first client: Trevor, a foul-mouthed teen with muscular dystrophy. Ben and Trevor are both paralyzed, one emotionally and the other physically, so after a while they decided to go on a little trip to visit some of the places the boy had seen in the news. Their relationship, which started out distrustful, progressively transformed into a great friendship, and along the way they encountered Dot (Gomez), a strong-willed young woman who joined them on their journey.
The film garnered excellent reviews, scoring 77% on the Tomatometer and 83% of the audience’s positive ratings.
