HOT GALLERY: Snakkle Looks Back On Selena Gomez’s Smokin’ Hot Pre-Spring Breakers Career!

There are cute kids, and then there are cute kids. Selena is the latter, for sure, showing off an impish grin in this family photo. Though Selena achieved success at a young age, she didn’t have an easy early childhood. Gomez’s parents Mandy and Ricardo divorced when she was only 5 years old, and her mother struggled to make ends meet. Gomez said in an E! special, “I remember my mom would run out of gas all of the time and we’d sit there and have to go through the car and get quarters and help her get gas... Because she never liked to ask my grandparents for money.” Luckily, things turned around for Selena when she was cast on Barney and Friends at the tender age of 7!

Selena Gomez was only 7 when she began her TV career on the famous (or infamous, depending on your taste) Barney and Friends. She played Gianna, alongside her BFF Demi Lovato, on the show’s seventh and eighth seasons and told People.com, "I didn't know what 'camera right' was. I didn't know what blocking was. I learned everything from Barney." A charming, if not slightly frightening, admission.

Selena was cast as “Waterpark Girl” by director Robert Rodriguez in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over way back in 2003. “I thought she was just cute. She had this cute face, and I thought she would be perfect as this rich girl who owned the park,” Rodriguez shared.

Selena played Gwen in an episode of Suite Life in 2006, which then turned into a recurring role as Mikayla on Hannah Montana and eventually landed her a starring role as Alex Russo on The Wizards of Waverly Place. As Disney loves to cross-promote, Gomez eventually starred in a crossover movie with Suite Life and Montana stars titled Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana in 2009.

Selena got her big break starring on several Disney shows, including The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Hannah Montana alongside Disney’s then-“It girl,” Miley Cyrus. Soon after, she was dubbed “the next Miley Cyrus,” and Selena snagged the role of teen witch Alex Russo on the hit series Wizards of Waverly Place in 2007.

As we mentioned a few times, Selena was the headlining star of Disney’s wildly popular Wizards of Waverly Place, which premiered on October 12, 2007, and ended on January 6, 2012. Selena, David Henrie, and Jake T. Austin played the kids of a wizard father and mortal mother who all possessed magical powers. In the picture above, Alex and her brothers face an unexpected and ultimate test to determine which one lucky Russo will be entitled to keep their wizardly powers.

Young celebs are always seen as role models for their young fans, and Selena is no different. The actress used her influence to promote the UR Vote Counts campaign by traveling to 150 malls in 42 states to gauge what teens under the age of 18 think of the election. The advocate stated, "Being a teen myself, I think it's really important we are educated on the issues that affect us all, so when we're eligible, we're fully prepared to take on one of our greatest privileges and responsibilities—voting." Go, girl!

What do you do after achieving Disney-style fame and fortune? Start a clothing line, of course. Selena teamed up with Sears to promote fun, fresh, and trendy clothes. Gomez said, "Music and fashion are two of the ways I really get to express myself.... I think a lot of kids my age feel the same way. How I am feeling on any given day really influences the type of music I listen to and how I dress, and that's one of the reasons I am working with Sears, because they have such a wide variety of different fashions, you can always find the styles that fit your own personal look."

Selena took on her first major feature film role as the ever-embarrassed older sister Beezus to the pesky Ramona in the movie adaption of Beverly Cleary’s beloved book Ramona and Beezus. Though she didn’t have a ton of screen time, critics like NPR’s Ian Buckwalter praised Selena, saying “…the often thorny relationship between the sisters is handled with an honesty that approaches the authenticity of Cleary's vision.”

After taking over the world through her Disney TV stardom, fashion lines, and movie roles, Selena took the next natural step: recording! When the Sun Goes Down was the third studio album by Selena Gomez & the Scene, released by Hollywood Records on June 28, 2011. The album’s big hit was “Love You Like a Love Song” (baby!) and reached 22 on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts. It’s probably stuck in your head now, isn’t it? When the Sun Goes Down was preceded by A Year Without Rain in 2010 and Kiss and Tell in 2009. Clearly what she needs to do next is direct.

Selena took on her first lead role in a feature film alongside Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester and Supernatural's Katie Cassidy in Monte Carlo. Gomez plays Grace, a girl who while on a trip to Paris with her stepsister (Meester) and BFF (Cassidy) is mistaken for a doppelganger heiress named Cordelia Winthrop Scott. Instead of rectifying the mistake, the three friends take advantage of the situation, and hilarity and shenanigans ensue. The flick was produced by Thomas Bezucha, Denise Di Novi, Alison Greenspan, and Nicole Kidman (!!).

The Disney darling and R&B teen heartthrob claimed they were just hanging out for months before Selena finally announced that she was, in fact, dating the Biebs back on March 14, 2011, during a Z100 interview. Years later, the two have been on-off-on-off and now on again. How cute are these crazy kids smooching for the “Kiss Cam” in the above photo?

Post-Spring Breakers, Gomez upped the ante on beginning her adult career by starring in several horror films alongside the likes of Eli Roth and Ethan Hawke. She released her first solo album Stars Dance in July 2013 which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.