Austin was announced as one of the 12 stars chosen to lead Vanity Fair’s 2023 Hollywood Issue on February 15, with none other than Selena Gomez. You probably connect Austin with all things Elvis these days. Baz Luhrmann’s biopic catapulted the actor to fame, winning his first Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the late actor.
Austin used to work on significantly… different projects alongside none other than Selena Gomez. When speaking with Vanity Fair, Austin took a journey down memory lane, recalling his role in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place.
Let us rewind for the sake of continuity. In case you didn’t know, Austin guest featured in “Positive Alex,” episode ten of the third season of Wizards of Waverly Place in 2010.
Austin portrayed George, the school’s band leader, who also happened to be Selena’s character, Alex Russo’s, love interest. Throughout the episode, the ever-so-sardonic Alex casts a spell on herself to become a more positive person because George found her typical ways unattractive according to the DailyMail.
Back to reality. Despite the cameo lasting only one episode, it appears that Austin and Selena stayed friends ever since, as Sel dug up a memento from set to bring to Austin while he was in production for Elvis.
“When I was filming Elvis, Selena found this photograph of the two of us when I did a guest-star thing on her show Wizards of Waverly Place. And she sends it to me, just going, ‘Wow, remember this?’ It feels like another life,” the 31-year-old actor told Vanity Fair. “When you’re a child actor, you see so many people come in from Texas or something, and at a certain point, they may quit or go back. We’re just so fortunate to have careers in this industry for this amount of time.”