Meet Xochitl Gomez, the MCU actress rumoured to be dating Steve Irwin’s son, Robert Irwin

The internet’s favourite nature and wildlife-loving heartthrob may have gotten himself a girlfriend.\nSteve Irwin’s son, Robert Irwin, who recently won the 34th season of Dancing with the Stars, has been sparking romance rumours with season 32 winner, Xochitl Gomez, ever since the two performed together for the show’s 20th anniversary. Their jive was met with a roaring applause from the audience, and judge Derek Hough even complimented their chemistry.\nThe pair seem to have developed a close bond since then. Gomez even surprised the conservationist with a bouquet ahead of the finale, per TMZ, and People reported that she stuck around while Irwin practised backstage.\n\nWhen the 21-year-old was named the Mirrorball champion alongside his partner, Witney Carson, the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star, 19, congratulated him with a hug. According to People, Irwin apparently whispered “see you soon” to Gomez while she was in his arms. Later, the actress reportedly took to her Instagram Stories to gush over the winning pair, writing, “I am so incredibly proud of you two.”\nGomez and Irwin have neither confirmed nor denied the dating rumours, though the actress insisted she was single during a DWTS TikTok livestream.\nWhether you ship them or not, read on to find out more about Xochitl Gomez.\nWhat’s Xochitl Gomez’s background?\n\nXochitl Gomez is a Mexican-American actress hailing from Los Angeles. She grew up with her mother working as a Hollywood set decorator and her father in construction, according to the LA Times.\n“My mum was super supportive. She was the one that was driving me literally all over LA and she even quit her job [to help me],” The Baby-Sitters Club star told Seventeen magazine.\nHow did she get into acting?\n\nGomez caught the acting bug at the age of five after her mother got her into musical theatre, she told Seventeen. She started out playing Ariel’s sister in a production of The Little Mermaid and went on to have a prolific musical theatre career, acting in 22 full-length productions. She started taking on-screen roles when she turned 10.\nWhere have you seen her before?\n\nAfter a series of short films and minor roles in shows like Raven’s Home and Gentefied, Gomez was cast in The Baby-Sitters Club as Dawn Schafer. Soon after, the MCU came knocking, and she got the role of superhero America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen.\nSpeaking to People, Gomez referred to her character, who is Latina and queer, as a “really positive representation for Latinas and teens”. Going forward, she is interested in directing and “being in charge of how the stories and the point of views are shaped”, she told the LA Times.\n