Xochitl Gomez

Xochitl Gomez-Deines is an American actress born on April 29, 2006. She began her acting career at a young age, performing in local musical theater and student films before making her professional television debut. Gomez gained initial widespread recognition for her role as Dawn Schafer in the Netflix comedy series The Baby-Sitters Club and achieved further international prominence for portraying the superhero America Chavez in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. She is also known for winning the thirty-second season of the competition series Dancing with the Stars.

Born in Los Angeles, California, to parents of Mexican descent, Gomez was raised in Hollywood before moving to Echo Park at age five. Her mother works as a set decorator for feature films, and her father is a construction worker from Morelos. Growing up in a household where Spanish was spoken, and surrounded by Mexican friends and a babysitter, Gomez was raised with strong cultural influences. She attended public school throughout her youth and is dyslexic.

Gomez took her first musical theater class at age five and performed in a local production of The Little Mermaid. She continued participating in musical theater until age twelve, appearing in 22 full-length musicals alongside acting in student films. Inspired to pursue a professional career after seeing Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, she attended multiple auditions in Los Angeles every day after school. She booked her first commercial roles at age ten and began studying kung fu and other martial arts at age eleven to expand her acting skills.

In 2018, Gomez made her onscreen debut on the Disney Channel sitcom Raven's Home. The following year, she starred in the film Shadow Wolves, earning a Young Artist Award for Supporting Teen Artist. In March 2020, she joined the cast of Netflix's adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club. Released in July 2020 to critical acclaim, her performance as Dawn Schafer received praise, though scheduling conflicts later prevented her from returning for the show's second season.

Gomez's scheduling conflict arose from landing the role of America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After initially auditioning at age thirteen in February 2020, she undertook extensive stunt, kickboxing, and martial arts training before completing a screen test with Benedict Cumberbatch. Released in 2022, the film grossed over $955 million worldwide, making sixteen-year-old Gomez one of the youngest actors to play a superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In August 2022, she was cast alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the science fiction thriller Ursa Major.

In 2023, Gomez competed on the thirty-second season of Dancing with the Stars alongside professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy. As the season's youngest contestant at age seventeen, she and Chmerkovskiy won the competition on December 5, 2023, taking home the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. She subsequently joined the Dancing with the Stars: Live! tour in 2024, performed in the season thirty-three finale, and returned for a jive relay in season thirty-four with Robert Irwin. Outside of screen work, Gomez has participated in activism, marching for the Black Lives Matter movement and attending the 2017 Women's March.