Xochitl Gomez stepped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with her portrayal of America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Here’s everything to know about the rising star.
1. She’s a Los Angeles Native and her first name means flower
Gomez was born in California in April 2006 and her parents are of Mexican descent. Her first name, “Xóchitl,” is pronounced “So-Chee” and means “flower” in Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico.
2. Xochitl Gomez Has Been Acting Since the Age of 5
“When I was five, my mom put me in musical theater class and I absolutely loved it,” Gomez told People En Español. “I was always in a show or rehearsing. I did it from [when I was] five to 12 years old, so I’ve done like 22 full-length musicals, which is pretty insane.”
Gomez also worked in over a dozen short films in the meantime.
“I was always in a show or rehearsing for a show, and I did it ’til I was 12,” Gomez told Seventeen in April. “I did like, 22 musicals, and I just loved being on stage and performing. I also loved bonding with the cast and just all the excitement leading up to the show. It gave me a real passion for acting as well, and then I started doing on-camera stuff when I was 10, and my mom was super supportive.”
3. She Played Dawn on Netflix’s ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’
Gomez dabbled in commercials before landing television and film roles like Raven’s Home in 2018 and Shadow Wolves in 2019, respectively. In 2020, the then 12-year-old at the time landed her big break in Netflix’s reboot of The Baby-Sitters Club. She had to leave the show ahead of its second season after getting her role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
4. Her character in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness was Rewritten for her
Gomez didn’t think she had a shot when she first auditioned for Multiverse of Madness because she was 13 years old at the time and the role of America was originally written for a young adult around the age of 18.
A month later, the actress was invited to audition again — but this time, for a revisited and reimagined, younger version of the character similar to Gomez’s youthful self.
5. Anthony Mackie Used to be Her Acting Coach
Gomez attended Sundance Institute back in 2018, where another Marvel superhero, Anthony Mackie (who plays Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, in the Captain America franchise), mentored her. Gomez gushed over Mackie’s performance in “The Hate U Give” as she shared a snap with the actor on her Instagram with the caption: “Fun fact: The unstoppable Anthony Mackie was our acting coach at Sundance Directors Lab this summer in Utah. Most demanding coach ever!” She added, “It was crazy, and I love him for pushing me so hard.”
6. Xochitl Gomez Is Trained in Martial Arts
Gomez put her martial arts skills and knowledge to use to prepare for her role as America Chavez in “Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse of Madness”
The actress began training with a stuntman friend, which involved intense workout regimes such as kickboxing, core strengthening, and wirework.
“We trained for like a month (and did) kickboxing and stunt tumbling every other day for a couple of hours. It was intense, but I felt like it was necessary because if I got to the next stage, I didn’t wanna do a little and be nervous. I wanted to go in there and own it, and I wanted (the Marvel team) to be blown away by my skills,” Gomez told Seventeen. She added that after finally booking the role, she stepped up her daily training by adding running to the mix.
“She brought a spirit or freshness of youth, of not going to take Doctor Strange’s guff,” director Sam Raimi told the outlet. “She has a little bit of a flippant quality to her, which I really like. She’s got a lot of spirit.”
7. Xóchitl Gomez likes to skateboard
Gomez picked up skateboarding while shooting “The Baby-Sitters Club” in Canada and enjoys it in her spare time.
“I do a little bit of skateboarding, but ever since I started getting some roles, I was like, ‘I can’t really injure myself here,'” Gomez told Marvel Entertainment at the Spider-Man: No Way Home premiere. “So I just graze a little bit.”
8. She has her own action figure
“Benedict was there when I first saw it,” Gomez said of her Doctor Strange costar, Benedict Cumberbatch, on the Kelly Clarkson Show.
As Cumberbatch recalled, “I was on set when she first got [the action figure]. I get reams of approvals for figurines and action figures… [Xochitl] gets it and goes, ‘Oh my god!’ and just bursts into tears.”
Gomez shared the news on TikTok with a fun stop-motion video of her America Chavez figurine dancing
9. She’s Proud to Be the MCU’s First Latina Superhero
America is the first queer, POC superhero to lead their own comics series in Marvel history
Gomez says that she hopes having a young, queer Latina superhero in a big-budget film like Doctor Strange will “give an opportunity for others to see other cultures.” She also notes that America wears a rainbow pride flag pin on her jean jacket and has another rainbow painted on the back, so it’s visible in nearly every shot. “You always see it,” she adds. “I really like that. It just shows how much Marvel is devoted to growing their diversity.”
10. Her First Acting Role Was As A Horse
“Kids ask [me] how they can become an actor,” Gomez wrote via Instagram in March 2021, sharing a collage of photos and videos from her days performing in theater productions as a child. “Theater! That’s how I started.” The California native also confessed that she had “no lines & [was] in a horse costume” when she made her theatrical debut.
11. Gomez attributes her success to her mother’s support, which helped her achieve her acting dreams.
“She was the one that was driving me literally all over LA, and she even quit her job (to help me),” she told Seventeen.
12. Xochitl Gomez Dreams of Directing in the Future
She expressed that she looks to other Marvel actors for inspiration and is looking forward to walking in their footsteps by deftly balancing big studio projects with indie flicks. She then went on to explain her proclivity for directing, saying, “I do have some ideas for music videos that I’d like to shoot for artists that I really like just because lots of the directors that I like started in music videos. So, that just seems like a good way to start.
In the meantime, she says she’s been practicing by directing her own dance videos and montages on TikTok. “I find so much joy in that. It’s like, why not start doing music videos?” If her TikTok content is any indication, we certainly can’t wait to witness what else she has in store for us!
