Mexican actress, singer, and model Danna Paola recently said that she was offered the role of Selena Quintanilla on Netflix’s Selena: The Series but had to turn it down because she was working on too many projects at the time.
“I was called to star in the Selena series and because of time and things I couldn’t,” Paola said on the podcast No Hagas lo Fácil. “It was very crazy because I did the casting, I prepared myself [and] I learned to speak like her. For me, it was a dream come true.”
Paola was already a cast member on Netflix’s Spanish teen drama series Élite, so she was left with a difficult decision when she said she was offered the role of Selena. She was also worried about losing focus on her singing career if she took the high-profile role. Paola received a Latin Grammy nomination for her last album, 2021’s K.O.
“It was like, I don’t know what to do,” she said. “The most difficult thing was to arrive and know that I already had the character.”
In the end, Paola said she turned to numerology to help her decide. Numerology is the belief that there is a supernatural relationship between numbers and events. Apparently, what her numbers told her was that she was a “singer who acts” and not an “actress who sings.”
The role of Selena on Selena: The Series ultimately went to actress Christian Serratos (The Walking Dead). The series ran for two seasons and received mixed reviews.