The 'Walking Dead' actress admits she was blown away when she heard that J.Lo was looking forward to seeing her onscreen portrayal of Selena Quintanilla-Perez in the new series.

• Jan 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Actress Christian Serratos found out Jennifer Lopez was a big fan of her new show about doomed Tejano singer Selena at the same time as everyone else - by reading the news on social media.

Selena Quintanilla-Perez died aged only 23 in 1995 after being shot by her fan club manager, and the "Dreaming of You" hitmaker was played by Lopez in the subsequent 1997 film, about the star and her tragic death, titled, "Selena".

Now "The Walking Dead" actress Christian is playing the Mexican-American in new Netflix show, "Selena: The Series", and when she read the superstar was "so excited... to see it," she was blown away by the "really heartwarming" endorsement.

"Yeah I didn't see that coming at all," Serratos said on "The Kelly Clarkson Show". "I'm such a fan of hers and I grew up watching that movie (Selena). I know that movie backwards and forwards, and she did such an amazing job playing Selena."

"I saw it (comment) on social media with everyone else. I didn't know that was coming and it was really heartwarming."

But being such a big fan of J.Lo's portrayal meant Christian really felt the "pressure" for her own performance to hit all the right notes, too.

"It gave me a lot more pressure," she admitted, "because not only was I stepping into Selena's shoes but I'm having to follow in the footsteps of Jennifer, but I was so happy when I saw that (comment)."

And she also really drew "inspiration" from her small screen alter ego.

"It was my first opportunity to lead a show and have that responsibility. I learned so much about the business. She (Selena) was such an inspiration when it came to being strong and incredibly graceful," she added.