Jennifer Lopez is paying tribute to the musical icon whose life story helped rocket her career into the super star she is today.
Lopez celebrated the 25th anniversary of the classic biopic "Selena" in an emotional social media post on Monday, marking the date the Gregory Nava-directed film first hit theaters on March 21, 1997, which charted the rise of Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla before her murder in 1995.
"What a very special day … we're celebrating 25 years of SELENA! Today we celebrate and honor Selena's legacy and music," Lopez wrote on Instagram with a clip of herself in an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In the video, Winfrey asks Lopez what it was like having Quintanilla's family on set while she portrayed the singer, who's often cited as one of the most influential Latino performers of all time.
"This movie means so much to me … Selena and her family mean so much to me, and I was so lucky to be chosen to play her. I'll never forget this time in my life, and it's an honor as an artist to have been part of the magic that is this movie."
Lopez was one of 21,000 actresses to audition for "Selena," a number that Nava says eclipsed the number of performers who coveted the role of Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With the Wind."
"Selena," scored Lopez her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy.
She also earned a nomination at the MTV Movie Awards for Best Breakthrough Performance ahead of her rise to become an international star thanks to films like "Anaconda," "Out of Sight," "The Wedding Planner," "Hustlers" and more.
In 2021, "Selena" was also added to the Library of Congress as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant work of art.
