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Selena Gomez would often get confused for one of her TV characters early in her career.
During the Nov. 25 episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, which was taped in front of an audience at Chapman University, the actress, 32, revealed why she was never bothered by being confused with her Wizards of Waverly Place character Alex Russo on the Disney Channel series that aired for four seasons between 2007 and 2012.
“We would do our tapings for Wizards in front of a live audience every Friday night. And that was the biggest high I could ever get. It was the coolest feeling to make a kid laugh uncontrollably because it’s pure,” she said.
Eric McCandless/Disney Channel/Getty
“I mean, I’ve had kids come up to me, and they only know me as Alex. You know? And they’ll have full conversations like, ‘Where’s your wand?’ ” said Gomez.
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“I think that’s probably a moment I’ll never forget where I recognized we had this influence to make people and kids feel good,” she added.
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The “Love On” singer reprised her role for the pilot episode of the show’s new spin-off, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, which she executive-produces alongside her former TV brother David Henrie.
“It was a dream come true. [She] and I have kept in such good contact and remain good friends,” Henrie told PEOPLE about being able to work together again in September.
Eric McCandless/Disney
At the new series’ premiere event in October, she opened up exclusively to PEOPLE about how she believes her character has evolved since the original show.
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“I personally think we kind of picked up where we left off and it shows a very established Justin and also a very established Alex and you’re still curious about what they’re going through, but it kind of felt like a rhythm we got back into,” she said.
