(Warning: This post contains spoilers about Part 1 of Netflix's "Selena: The Series.")
Netflix's "Selena: The Series" portrays the beautiful — and nerve-wracking — forbidden love story between Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla and her bandmate and future husband, Chris Perez. In the show, the pair chose to hide their budding romance from Selena's father and band manager for fear that he would kick Perez out of the band. But did it happen like that in real life?
Let's break it down. It's true that the pair met in 1989 when Perez, a talented guitarist, joined Selena y Los Dinos. It's also true that they were immediately drawn to each other — although the meet-cute scene in the Netflix series where the two come face to face in the doorway of Selena's Corpus Christi home is likely a bit of artistic license on the part of the show's writers.
However, Perez did tell Entertainment Tonight that his first thoughts upon meeting Selena were that she was "beautiful and talented."
"I'm a shy person by nature, and there was just something about her that she was able to pull me out," he said.
Also Read: 'Selena: The Series': Did Selena Really Learn Spanish Phonetically to Sing Tejano Songs?
But it's also true that Selena's father, Abraham, tried to split up the couple.
After confessing their feelings for each other, Selena and Chris initially tried to keep their relationship a secret. But unlike in the show, according to Biography.com, it was actually Selena's sister, Suzette, that broke the news to their father.
What the show did get right is the severity of Abraham's reaction, which did lead to him kicking Perez out of the band.
"It kind of hurt his pride and his ego to find out that he was the last to know," Pérez told CNN. "When things got tense and things were said by him, it hurt me that he was saying it, but I didn't let it get to me because I knew deep down, he knew the kind of person I was."
He added: "The worst thing he said to me was that I was like a cancer to his family. His family knew about us being together and was supportive; when he said that it was like, 'C'mon!'"
Also Read: Did Selena Really Meet Laura Canales in the Bathroom at the 1986 Tejano Music Awards?
Despite Abraham's disapproval, the couple eloped on April 2, 1992.
Perez recalled the day on what would have been their 25th anniversary in 2017.
"It's hard to believe that today marks 25 years since Selena and I decided that the only way to be together… was to run away and get married (at 20 and 22 years old) in secret," he wrote in a Facebook post, alongside a picture of their marriage certificate. "What a rollercoaster ride THAT day was."
Though Part 1 of "Selena: The Series" leaves off just as Abraham kicks Perez out of the band, in real life, he eventually softened and welcomed his new son-in-law into the family.
However, their life together would be cut short just three days shy of their third wedding anniversary on March 31, 1995 when Selena was murdered by her fan club president and former manager of her Selena, Etc. boutiques, Yolanda Saldivar.
Perez speaks more at length about their relationship in his book, "To Selena, With Love."
Part 1 of "Selena: The Series" is now streaming on Netflix.
As the embodiment of kindness, generosity, and Yuletide beneficence, Santa Claus presents some mighty big black boots, much less a red suit, for any actor to fill. But jolly old Saint Nicholas has appeared in the movies for as long as the movies have existed, and here are some of our favorite actors who've steered the sleigh (not counting Billy Bob Thornton and anyone else who has played a guy who is pretending to be Santa):
Warner Bros./Netflix/Sony Pictures Entertainment
Kurt Russell in "The Christmas Chronicles" (2018) and "The Christmas Chronicles 2" (2020): There's more than a little bit of Russell's trucker character from "Big Trouble in Little China" in his take on Father Christmas, but that blue-collar bravado and dad-bod energy make this character, in the words of critic Nathan Rabin, "a Santa who f--ks."
Netflix
Jim Broadbent, "Arthur Christmas" (2011): In this delightful animated adventure from Aardman, Broadbent plays the current Santa in a long lineage: He assumed the reins from his father (voiced by Bill Nighy), and is about to pass them along to son Steve (Hugh Laurie), who has modernized the toy delivery system, reducing Santa to a dotty figurehead. As voiced by Broadbent, he's a bit of a dodderer, but still very much in love with the job.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Paul Giamatti, "Fred Claus" (2007): Vince Vaughn has the title role of the main man's ne'er-do-well brother, but this spotty comedy is stolen outright by Giamatti, who displays a level of kindness and joy that he rarely gets to exercise in front of the camera. The fatsuit and white beard fit the veteran character actor like a fur-trimmed glove.
Warner Bros.
Ed Asner, "Elf" (2003): There's not an ounce of cynicism or irony to this modern classic. Asner, whose Lou Grant character once famously growled that he "hate[d] spunk," must now rely upon the good will and Christmas spirit of New Yorkers when his sleigh gets stranded in Central Park -- thankfully, the actor generates enough holiday cheer to ensure a happy outcome.
New Line Cinema
Tim Allen, "The Santa Clause" (1994): Transforming from a divorced businessman to the Big Red Cheese himself, Allen is funny and relatable as a regular guy who finds himself literally expanding to fit the iconic red suit. So often in Santa movies, the audience must go on the "oh wow, he's really real after all" journey, and Allen makes the perfect guide, with his character evolving from cynical to sweet as he completes his metamorphosis into the North Pole's most famous resident.
Walt Disney Pictures
Douglas Seale, "Ernest Saves Christmas" (1988): Another comedy about the Santa title changing hands features veteran British character actor Seale as a Kringle on the verge of retirement, traveling to Florida to transfer the gig to a kind-hearted kids' TV host. For all the wacky slapstick afoot, Seale maintains his dignity, presenting a Santa who's both capable of genuine magic while also very much a part of the real world -- a tricky balance in any movie, much less one built around Jim Varney's rubber-faced (and, admittedly, hilarious) antics.
Touchstone Pictures
David Huddleston, "Santa Claus: The Movie" (1985): You'd think the guy playing the title role would be the star, but poor Huddleston ("The Big Lebowski") had to settle for billing beneath Dudley Moore (as an inventive elf) and John Lithgow (devouring the scenery as a corrupt toy magnate). Still, as overblown (and filled with product placement) as this shrill Christmas epic can be, Huddleston brings genuine warmth to the proceedings, whether he's a 14th-century woodcutter determined to deliver toys to local children or the man with the bag spanning the globe every December 24.
TriStar Pictures
John Call, "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964): A kiddie adventure so terrible that "Mystery Science Theater 3000," Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax could all goof on it without repeating any jokes, this infamous Christmas turkey nonetheless features Broadway veteran Call (before making this movie, he appeared in the original cast of "Oliver!") giving us a twinkly-eyed, rosy-cheeked Santa who seems to have stepped out of a Norman Rockwell lithograph. His "Ho ho ho!" always sounds genuine, even when he's facing off with antenna-sporting green aliens bearing Wham-O Air Blasters.
Embassy Pictures
José Elías Moreno, "Santa Claus" (1959): Unless you grew up watching Mexican television or going to kiddie matinees in the Southwest in the 1960s and early '70s, you were probably exposed to this trippy import via "Mystery Science Theater 3000." And while this film earned the mockery it received from Mike and the bots, it's one of those bad movies that's so utterly enthralling that you can't stop watching it. Even though this Santa teams up with Merlin to fight the devil (long story), Moreno gives us a memorable Saint Nick, even when the actor dubbing him into English makes his laugh sound sinister.
K. Gordon Murray Presents
Edmund Gwenn, "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947): The only actor to win an Oscar for playing Santa Claus, and it's definitely a case where the Academy got it right. Gwenn's Kris Kringle saves the Macy's parade from a drunken impostor, generates publicity for the department store by alerting customers about better deals being offered by competitors, enchants a young Natalie Wood into believing in magic, and even proves his sanity at a court hearing. With a performance like this, who wouldn't believe in Santa? (Honorable mention: Sir Richard Attenborough in the 1994 remake, who's lovely but can't hold a candle to the OG.)
20th Century FoxHere's a look at some of our favorite actors to don the mantle of jolly old Saint Nicholas over the years
As the embodiment of kindness, generosity, and Yuletide beneficence, Santa Claus presents some mighty big black boots, much less a red suit, for any actor to fill. But jolly old Saint Nicholas has appeared in the movies for as long as the movies have existed, and here are some of our favorite actors who've steered the sleigh (not counting Billy Bob Thornton and anyone else who has played a guy who is pretending to be Santa):