Selena Gomez honored by Edgar Ramirez for EW's 2024 Entertainers of the Year: 'A quiet force of nature'

Scoring an Emmy acting nomination for the first time would have been enough of a career highlight to count 2024 as a win, but Selena Gomez was just getting started. Following that nomination for season 3 of her hit Hulu comedy Only Murders in the Building, the actress is now getting Oscar buzz for her supporting part in Netflix's surreal musical Emilia Pérez — a role that's already garnered her the best actress win at the Cannes Film Festival (shared with her costars Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz, and Zoe Saldaña). To top that all off, the newly engaged Wizards Beyond Waverly Place executive producer — who is also the founder of both cosmetic brand Rare Beauty and mental health website Wondermind — just became a double nominee for the upcoming 2025 Golden Globes.

To honor Gomez as one of EW's 2024 Entertainers of the Year, we asked her Emilia Pérez costar Edgar Ramirez to reflect on her remarkable year.

Selena has an elegance about her. A grace that shines through the moment you meet her. Working on Emilia Pérez in Paris, we had an immediate connection — this immediate understanding of each other and this immediate trust. It was almost like we had met before. That’s Selena’s superpower.

Filming the musical moments in film, she always knew exactly what was going on. She knew where the camera was, where the lighting was. She's was concentrated and focused. I actually think she could be a great director, if she wanted to explore that.

But that’s not surprising, because Selena is a leader. She’s firm and subtle at the same time, which is a rare and wonderful quality in a human being. She brings quiet dedication to everything she does.

She’s almost like a monk, she works in silence. I think that can be confused as shyness, but it's not that. It's just that she's a very good observer — ready to listen, be curious, ask profound questions, and learn. That serves her well as a performer, but also in her work as an entrepreneur and producer and in her humanitarian work. She choses the causes and stories she wants to get behind and tackles them full force and with passion, but she’s humble and lets the work speak for itself.

I have such respect for her work ethic. I mean, look at all the things she has accomplished at her age. She’s been working since she was a child. She’s been in the trenches and been through a lot of challenging experiences in her life, and it’s so refreshing and beautiful to see how she navigates all that she does. Somone with her level of notoriety could be really confused in life, and she’s not. She’s very clear. She knows how to set boundaries in an elegant and respectful way while remaining vulnerable and raw.

I think a lot of that has to do with her mother, who shares a lot of those qualities. Her mother and family did a great job. And it’s clear that family is the most important thing in Selena’s life. Family and community-building is one of her guiding values. Maybe that’s the Latino culture, but you see it in everything she does.

She’s a quiet force of nature, and I'm very happy for all that is happening for her. I’m so grateful she’s become such an important person in my life.

—As told to Patrick Gomez

EW's 2024 Entertainers of the Year

• Beyoncé honored by Keke Palmer
• Sabrina Carpenter honored by Danielle Fishel
• The cast of Challengers honored by Naomi Osaka
• Charli XCX honored by Reneé Rapp
• Nicholas Galitzine honored by Taylor Zakhar Perez
• Glen Powell honored by Sydney Sweeney
• Chappell Roan honored by Elton John