FORT WORTH, Texas — Four Texas natives are involved in Apple TV’s new series “Surfside Girls,” including the co-creator and three cast members.
Based on the bestselling graphic novel series by author Kim Dwinell, the live-action series that premiered Friday follows best friends Sam and Jade who discover a mysterious underwater cavern in their sleepy California beach town. The pals combine their polar-opposite strengths of imagination and logic to solve the supernatural mysteries that hide just beneath the surface of Surfside.
Who is YaYa Gosselin?
Thirteen-year-old YaYa Gosselin, who plays Sam on "Surfside Girls," hails from Oak Cliff and is of Mexican, French, Native American and English descent. She is known for her starring roles in the 2020 superhero film “We Can Be Heroes” and the crime drama series “FBI: Most Wanted.” A horseback rider and barrel racer, Gosselin was recently cast as the lead in “Charlie’s Horse,” filmed in her home city of Dallas. Gosselin now resides in Bedford.
“I was initially drawn to the fact that it was a show featuring a Mexican American surfer girl,” Gosselin says about "Surfside Girls." “It felt really fresh to me and not something I had seen before. Sam is a leader and an outside-the-box thinker. I’m always excited about that. Then when I found out it was based on a graphic novel series I really perked up because I love comics and graphic novels. Also, the fact that Sam was going to be Mexican in the show and that there was a hard working Mexican family at its core also spoke to me. These are the kind of characters I feel like I don’t see enough of and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Her mother, Monica Mendez, enrolled her in a theater production at age 3 at the Dallas Children’s Theater. And at 5, Gosselin signed with The Clutts Agency in Dallas and after only a month was chosen out of hundreds of children for a national Elmo commercial. Ten commercials later, she began training at DTV Studios in Lewisville.
Her first big break was a small role in the 2018 action thriller film “Peppermint,” opposite Jennifer Garner. She has also appeared in “The Purge,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets” and “The Heroics.”
Who are the other Texas natives on 'Surfside Girls'?
Along with co-lead Gosselin, two others involved with the series are from Dallas and one is from Galveston. The show’s co-creator, executive producer and writer Julie Sagalowsky Diaz went to The Hockaday School in Dallas. She is known for her work on fantasy drama series “The Shannara Chronicles” and teen sitcom “What’s Up Warthogs!” Cast member Catia Ojeda, who plays Monica, is a 1997 graduate of the Ursuline Academy of Dallas, and Adan Maverick Carcano, who plays Petey, is from Galveston.
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'SURFSIDE GIRLS'
Rating: TV-G
Premiered: Aug. 19
Where to watch: Apple TV
Episodes: 10 episodes, 22 to 26 minutes each
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