SCOTT DEL AMOGetty Images
On Saturday, Jennifer Lopez posted a tribute to late singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the famous Mexican-American singer who died at age 23 in March 1995. This tribute from Lopez is especially sweet because the actress portrayed the singer in a biopic about her life in 1997, aptly titled Selena.
The film came out on March 21, 1997, which was 23 years ago yesterday. Lopez honored the film with this lovely message:
:Join me today in #CelebratingSelena. 🌹✨ I can’t believe it’s been 23 years since this incredible movie came out and 25 years since her passing. Selena was such an inspiration to me and I was so lucky to be chosen to play her. As an artist, this movie truly was an experience I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. Please share your memories of Selena and the movie with me below.🌹❤️”
Lopez posted a compilation of clips from the film that includes voiceover of her speaking about what it meant to her to play the part.
“I just go right back to the beginning of the movie and the first day of shooting and really trying to find the essence of who she was,” she says on the video. “She was an artist, and she was singing from the time she was nine years old—maybe younger. Learning how she sang, her mannerisms and how she danced. Studying the tape of her became really important…God sent me that role for a reason so I could learn from her, so I could always have her as an inspiration,” Lopez adds.
Quintanilla-Pérez, who was known simply as “Selena,” won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American album in 1994. She also won an Alma Award for Outstanding Album in 1995. Selena was known as the “queen of Tejano,” the regional music of South Texas. She was becoming even more of a mainstream star when she was shot and killed by her former fan club president, Yolanda Saldívar, in 1995. She had been married for nearly three years to her husband, Chris Pérez.