FresnoBee.com: TV: Life is magical for 'Wizards' star
- ️Mon Jul 28 2008
LOS ANGELES -- Life is pretty magical for Selena Gomez these days. The 16-year-old actress/singer plays Alex Russo on the very popular Disney Channel series "Wizards of Waverly Place."
The cable comedy follows the adventures of Alex and her two brothers, who just happen to be wizards-in-training. Attempts by Alex to use her magical skills often lead to disaster.
If you don't have cable or have missed the show, she can be seen on the new DVD "Wizards of Waverly Place: Wizard School" when it hits stores Tuesday.
Gomez loves the show so much she doesn't even mind the extra work for the camera trickery needed to make the TV magic seem real.
"The special effects can be a little difficult, but it is also a good challenge for me as an actress having to act like I am somewhere where I am not. Or when I have to talk to a piece of green tape," Gomez says during an interview at the Beverly Hilton.
The green tape is used when a scene is photographed against a green backdrop. Then, though computers, images can be placed behind the actors.
"The first time I had to talk to the green tape, I had to have one of my castmates read their lines off screen to me so I could get the feeling," Gomez says.
New episodes of "Wizards of Waverly Place" air at 8:30 p.m. Sundays on the Disney Channel. Gomez calls the Aug. 10 episode her favorite -- Alex turns 15 and faces her quinceñera.
In typical "Wizards" fashion, the quinceñera doesn't go as planned.
Because Gomez's father is from Mexico, she has been able to attend many family quinceñeras. But the actress, whose mother is half-Italian, did not have her own. That has not stopped her from enjoying others.
"I love my culture and everything about it. Without it I would not be who I am today," Gomez says.
The reporter can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355.