| YaYa Gosselin | |
| Birth Name: | Felisita Leon Gosselin[1] |
| Birth Date: | 2009 1, mf=yes[2] |
| Birth Place: | Dallas, Texas, U.S.[3] |
| Nationality: | American |
| Years Active: | 2017–present |
Felisita Leon "YaYa" Gosselin (born January 26, 2009) is an American actress. She began her career modelling for commercials and made her acting debut in After Omelas (2017). Following this, she made minor appearances in Peppermint (2018), The Purge (2018), 13 Reasons Why (2019–2020), and FBI (2019–2020). She reprised her role in its spin-off (2020–2022) as Tali LaCroix in which she was a regular in the second season. Gosselin gained wide recognition for playing the lead role of Missy Moreno in Netflix's We Can Be Heroes (2020).
Gosselin was born in Dallas on January 26, 2009, to Monica Mendez-Gosselin. Gosselin's birth name, Felisita, was after her great-grandmother Felisita Chavez as was her nickname YaYa.[4] At the age of three, she began acting at Dallas Children's Theatre and also studied acting at DTV Studios. Gosselin studied contemporary and ballet at Ohlook Performing Arts Center. She has two younger sisters.[5] They are Latinas.
At the age of five, Gosselin signed with an agency and booked her first job a month later, modeling for commercials such as JCPenney, Famous Footwear, Hasbro, and Conn's HomePlus commercials. In 2017, she appeared in After Omelas.[6] In 2018, she made minor appearances in action thriller film Peppermint and the anthology television series The Purge.[7]
Gosselin played Jenny Finley in Lord Finn for which she won an award for Best Child Actress at the Sunny Side Up Film Festival in 2020. She appeared in a recurring role in FBI before appearing in in which she recurred in the first season and became a regular in the second. According to Deadline Hollywood, Gosselin will become a guest star. In August 2019, at the age of ten, Gosselin was reported to have joined the cast of Netflix's We Can Be Heroes, the standalone sequel to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D.[8] Gosselin stated she enjoyed filming and stunt work, saying it was "challenging for sure, but it is so fun". Netflix released the film on December 25, 2020. Gosselin received praise for her performance. Chicago Sun-Times praised her "winning performance",[9] and RogerEbert.com said the role would "hopefully" be the "breakthrough for a long career".[10] In the first four weeks of its release, the film was watched by 44 million households.[11] In January 2021, Netflix ordered a sequel.[12] In March 2021, Gosselin was cast in feature film Trans Los Angeles in a segment of the film titled Period. She will play a shy 12-year-old girl.[13] In December of that year, Gosselin was announced as a lead actress in Apple TV+ series Surfside Girls alongside Miya Cech. The former stars as Sam, who, with her best friend Jade (Cech), meets a ghost and hopes to break a curse.[14]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | After Omelas | Lauren | Short film | |
| 2018 | Peppermint | Ana | ||
| The Purge | Young Penelope | Episode: "The Urge to Purge" | ||
| Laugh Till It Hurts | Tiara | Short film | ||
| Law and Order: Sting Unit | Officer Olivia | Short film | ||
| Day 13 | Gabby Rae | Short film | ||
| 2019 | Lord Finn | Jenny Finley | ||
| 20192020 | FBI | Natalia "Tali" Skye LaCroix | 2 episodes; Guest (season 12) | |
| 13 Reasons Why | Graciella Padilla | 2 episodes; Guest (season 34)[15] | ||
| 20202022 | Natalia "Tali" Skye LaCroix | Recurring role (season 1); Main role (season 2–3) | ||
| 2020 | We Can Be Heroes | Missy Moreno | Streaming film[16] | |
| 2021 | Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets | Young Jorie | ||
| 2022 | Surfside Girls | Sam | Main role |