Part 2 of 'Selena: The Series' is now available on Netflix.
Christian Serratos is hoping you shed a tear watching Part 2 of Netflix's Selena: The Series. In a digital cover for ELLE's May issue, the 30-year-old actress reveals that, to her, tears signal a job well done.
"I’m very sinister, but that’s kind of how I gauge at work if what I did was compelling," she says. "I know it’s really good if Hiromi [Kamata, who directed several episodes of both Parts 1 and 2] is crying. That’s always the goal: Make the director cry."
Serratos stars as Selena Quintanilla in the series, which follows the iconic singer's life and work before her 1995 death. For Serratos, playing Selena was a dream come true.
"I grew up admiring her, dreaming about whether I [would] ever have the opportunity to meet her, or play her, just wanting to feel connected to her in some way," she says. "Even though [her story] is a tragedy, it was a joy to play her."
"I think the most poignant thing about the second part of the series is that we focused on the light that she was," Serratos continues of the series' final part, which is now available on Netflix. "Not how her life ended."
Just as she hoped to play Selena, Serratos always knew that she wanted to be a mom. She fulfilled that dream when she and husband David Boyd welcomed their daughter, Wolfie, in 2017. Serratos says that her 4-year-old tot is simply "an awesome kid."
"I worry about sounding like an a**hole, but I kind of knew exactly what it was going to be like to be a parent," she says. "Even the tantrums don’t really bother me, because I’m like, 'This is what it is, you knew what this was [going to be like].' My goal is to keep her safe and make sure she’s not a d**k."
Serratos says that she, her husband and her daughter "move in a pack" and "go everywhere together."
"Wolfie is my best buddy," she says. "She’s been on The Walking Dead set with me since she was born. We have great pictures of her sitting on top of a pile of fake dead bodies and stuff."
Their usual closeness was ramped up last year, amid quarantine due to COVID-19.
"On paper, it doesn’t sound great being trapped in a very small square footage with a toddler, but I think it was harder being trapped with my husband," Serratos says. "We all have a great time together, but when Wolfie wants space, she says, 'I need alone time.' I’m like, 'OK great!,' so she’ll go take her alone time."
As for how she plans to celebrate Mother's Day later this month, Serratos predicted a low-key family day.
"It’s kind of a running joke that the household usually forgets about Mother’s Day, so David does some things before and after, and I think it’s because he doesn’t know what day it’s on," she says. "We’re usually just cozy, and our idea of a good time is to give me a really great gift. If David makes me food and a cocktail... and then we watch a movie and go to bed, that’s a solid day for me."
While Serratos loves being a mom, she doesn't think she wants "any more kids right now." Instead, the actress hopes to focus on her work in the coming years.
"I just really want to work," she says. "I want to work with awesome people that I want to have a glass of wine with after work. That’s it. That’s my hope. My dreams are very simple."
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