Texas-born actress Selena Gomez, who was named after Tejano pop icon Selena, hopes to make a name for herself in her first regular TV series role.

The 15-year-old is one of the stars of the new family sitcom "Wizards of Waverly Place," which premieres Friday on The Disney Channel. In it, she plays a teenager with magical powers.

"I've always been fascinated with magic," she said, adding she feels blessed to be part of a channel that has managed to rock the world with the megahit "High School Musical" movies and other strong original programming.

"The Disney Channel's the new MTV," she said.

As for her famous namesake, she said her dad was a huge fan of Selena.

Gomez, who wasn't even 3 when the singer was killed in 1995, said she and her family went to Corpus Christi to visit her grave. She has watched the movie "Selena" numerous times, Gomez said, and frequently listens to the soundtrack.

"My grandmother even made me a bustier that looked just like one of Selena's," she said in a phone interview.

These days, Gomez, a Dallas native who recently relocated to Los Angeles, is working hard on her acting career.

She should get a big boost from "Wizards of Waverly Place," a weekly series revolving around a bicultural family of five who live in Manhattan. The Russos could be described as fairly average, except for one thing: The children, two boys and a girl, ages 12 to 16, come from a long line of wizards. Through the tutoring help of their dad, they work to learn to control their budding magical powers. In the premiere, Alex (Gomez) magically duplicates herself so she can attend both her home wizardry class and an important clothes sale.

The series casts its first spell on the Disney Channel at 8:30 p.m. Friday in a special magic-themed night that leads with the original movie "Twitches Too" at 7 p.m.

Then, on Oct. 19, "Witches of Waverly Place" moves into its regular time slot, 7:30 p.m. Fridays.

Gomez says playing the daughter of a Mexican American mom (Maria Canals Barrera) and a dad with Italian roots (David DeLuise) is a natural for her.

"I've grown up around it all my life," she said, adding that her dad is Hispanic and her mom Anglo.

In a Disney session with TV critics, executive producer Peter Murrieta said it was important to reflect the diversity of real families.

"I think this is the world we live in now," Murrieta said. "And my son goes to school with a bunch of kids that are from different backgrounds in the same family, and we felt it was very important to showcase that, and that's the face of the world."

Though most of the comical situations could arise in any family — sibling rivalry, competition with schoolmates and disobedience — Gomez said the show occasionally would play up the Latino angle. One episode, for instance, revolves around her quinceañera.

Gomez started gravitating toward theater at the young age of 7, when she landed a role as a series regular in "Barney & Friends."

Gomez's relationship with Disney started three years ago in Austin as part of a nationwide casting search by the channel. Two weeks later, at the age of 12, she was heading to California to shoot her first pilot, a spinoff of "Lizzie McGuire." Though it never got picked up, she did land a part on "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." On Oct. 19, she also can be seen in an episode of "Hannah Montana."

When not toiling for Disney, she's busy beefing up her singing career and working on two films. Gomez supplies a voice for the upcoming animated Dr. Seuss feature "Horton Hears a Who!" and will be seen in the Warner Bros. movie "Another Cinderella Story."

Her heart still belongs to Texas, however, particularly when San Antonio Spurs season rolls around.

"I'm a huge fan," she said, rattling off the names of some of her favorites — Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Tony Parker. Though she's in Lakers and Clippers country now, she said she and her dad don't hesitate to show their support for S.A.'s NBA champs. Even when they attend games in Los Angeles, they wear Spurs jerseys, she said, and yell, "Go, Spurs, go."