at eleven, gonzalez was invited to a national open audition for a new musical based on the life of the late tejano singer, selena quintanilla, "selena forever". out of the many hopefuls, gonzalez was picked as the lead "young selena" and appeared on the spanish television show "cristina", on univision, to make the official announcement. gonzalez and her mother moved to san antonio, texas, where the rehearsals for the national touring musical began. on march 21, 2000 the show premiered and started its 30-city tour across the united states.