From making her mark on Disney Channel to channeling her inner “scream queen” with roles in iconic horror franchises, Jenna Ortega has evolved into one of Hollywood’s hottest young actors at record speed. But behind her rise to superstardom lies years of hard work, lessons learned, and finding herself in the process. She’s worked with some of the industry’s most well-known actors while simultaneously finding her own path to stardom in the process – and learning to stay true to herself all the while. Plus, she’s got lofty goals for not only herself but for the groups that she represents and the causes that she champions. “I do want to do projects that challenge me a little bit more and put me in situations that I may not necessarily be able to initially relate to, just to push myself and see what I can do,” she told Cosmopolitan. For Ortega, she is primed to make a difference in the world while pursuing what she loves.
She knew she wanted to act from a young age
Even as a kid growing up in California, Jenna Ortega knew she wanted to pursue a career in acting. Living in a Mexican-Puerto Rican household, the young star-to-be impressed upon her parents that this was the path she wanted to pursue. With the support of her mother, she made her dream come true by starting off small. By the age of six, she was appearing in commercials and small guest roles on television. Ortega and her mother learned the hard way that success wasn’t immediate, and Ortega relied on her family to help guide her through the difficult task of breaking into the industry. “It’s taken time for me and my mom to navigate through some of the obstacles of getting a really great team behind me, but I’m glad to say that we’re finally here,” she shared with Teens Wanna Know.
As she continued to make the rounds in the industry, Ortega learned early on that her dream career came with some significant highs and lows. Her early years in the audition room came with a lot more no’s than yeses, something that the actor said she took to heart too often. “Most of them didn’t bother me, but a few of the no’s really messed me up and ruined my self-esteem,” she admitted to Teens Wanna Know.
Her first taste of fame came from TV
Jenna Ortega’s first major taste of fame came from appearances on several television shows. Her very first role was in 2012 in the short-lived series “Rob” starring Rob Schneider. While she was only featured on a single episode of the show, she learned some valuable lessons in show business that helped her performances moving forward. “That day [on set], I learned how to kick a guy without actually hurting him,” she told Cliché Mag.
She also worked her way onto the sets of “CSI: NY” and “Days of Our Lives” before eventually making appearances in films like “Iron Man 3” and “The Little Rascals Save the Day.” But it wasn’t until her recurring role as the younger version of Gina Rodriguez’s title character in “Jane the Virgin” that her star power elevated into a new stratosphere. The actor shared that being on a set for more than a one-off episode was helpful in really digging into her craft. “I think I know the character pretty well because I’ve been portraying her for four years now, and watching Gina act helps as well,” she shared with LovingSeries.com.
Becoming a Disney Channel star changed her life
As her career continued to grow, Jenna Ortega’s star power rose even further when she joined the Disney Channel. The entertainer starred in two series for the House of Mouse. She earned her first lead role as Harley Diaz in “Stuck in the Middle,” which ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2018. The role spearheaded major movements for the actor on the network. She co-hosted the Radio Disney Music Awards and even had her own Radio Disney show called “What’s Good with Jenna Ortega.” She also voiced the character of Princess Isabel in “Elena of Avalor,” making her character the second Latina Disney princess after Elena. “Now little Hispanic princesses can see themselves on TV,” she shared with Desert Sun.
Appearing on the Disney Channel was a long-realized dream for the young actor, as it was something she had been dreaming of ever since she realized she wanted to be in show business. “When I initially was trying to convince my parents to let me act, I remember crying one night at the dinner table and saying: ‘Oh, man, I can do it. I know I can do it. If you let me do it, I swear to you, I will end up on the Disney Channel,'” she revealed to Parenting Patch.
She entered her Netflix era with even bigger roles
The Disney Channel wasn’t the only network on which Jenna Ortega made a name for herself. She also starred in several major films and series on Netflix beginning in 2020, encompassing multiple genres that expanded her reach to new audiences. Ortega stuck with the family-friendly crowd while voicing Brooklynn on “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” and playing the daughter of Jennifer Garner and Edgar Ramirez in the film “Yes Day.” Working with her even helped the young actor garner more perspective on the industry. “Jennifer would bring up stories about things she learned when she was growing up in the industry and relate them back to me,” she told Cosmopolitan. “She kind of had a plan for my future, which I thought was funny.”
The actor also started branching in a new direction on Netflix as one of the leads in the horror film “The Babysitter: Killer Queen.” Despite landing her first major role in a spooky-set film, Ortega still found it challenging to fit in with her co-stars in a big-budget streaming sequel. “I didn’t know these people, and I just had to scream in their face [in the scene],” she lamented in another interview with Cosmopolitan. “What a time!” Even her apprehension wouldn’t prevent her from embracing her scarier side in future projects.
She started leaning toward more spooky roles
Jenna Ortega embraced her spooky side with roles in several major films and television series. While 2020’s “The Babysitter: Killer Queen” was her first major role in a scary movie, she made her first splash in the genre a few years earlier with a small role in “Insidious: Chapter 2.” While she was clearly a natural in the genre, it took Ortega a while to embrace it on a personal level. “I used to be a big scaredy cat growing up,” she revealed to Cosmopolitan. “So I didn’t see this movie [that I’m in] until I was maybe 15.”
It wasn’t just unnerving films that the actor focused on when it came to expanding her repertoire. She also appeared in the second season of the Netflix thriller “You” opposite Penn Badgley. Her character, Ellie, was even reported to come back for the show’s fifth and final season. But even though she is a natural with some of the most frightening figures on screen, she was once afraid of the iconic Chucky doll. “They couldn’t find me for 30 minutes because I was rocking back and forth in a corner like ‘he’s gonna get me,'” she shared about her reaction to “Child’s Play,” in which Chucky appears, on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “[I] swear to god, I was in my sibling’s closet.”
She elevated her career prospects after starring in a buzzed-about drama
Jenna Ortega’s not just known for her horror flick chops. She’s also flexed her skills in dramatic films, most notably the 2022 film “The Fallout.” In the movie, she played a traumatized student navigating life after a shooter invaded her high school. The director was eager to cast a Gen Z actor in the role of a real-life teenager, and Ortega fit the bill from the start. “I knew I wanted somebody who was actually the age of this character,” director Megan Park relayed to InStyle. “[I wanted] somebody … who was really honest and brave and bold and smart and unafraid.”
For her part, the young actor drew upon personal experience as she prepared for the harrowing environment her character navigated. She was once caught in what she thought was a lockdown drill at her public school but later found out it was an actual gun-related emergency on campus. “It’s intense when something suddenly turns real like that,” she shared with Deadline. “Nobody ever really understands until it happens to them.”
Even early in her career, she flexed her dramatic flair in films like “Saving Flora,” in which she portrayed the daughter of a circus owner determined to save the show’s star elephant. “It’s really important to me that I tell stories that need to be heard, or that will make some sort of impact,” she once told InStyle.
She became a true Scream queen
2022 was a major year for Jenna Ortega, as she capitalized on her status as a scary movie staple and became a household name in the genre. She starred alongside Melissa Barrera, who played her older sister, in that year’s “Scream” continuation. She also starred in the film’s sequel, “Scream VI,” cementing her status as a true “Scream” franchise queen alongside the likes of Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox.
But it wasn’t all just screaming and stabbing in the film, as Ortega found ways to dig deeper into her character and portray those characteristics on screen. “I actually had to create a personality for her,” she said of her work in “Scream VI” to Elle. “I actually had to decide, ‘What does she wear? What’s her favorite color? How does she wear her makeup? What’s her sense of humor?'”
While Ortega dropped out of “Scream VII” due to scheduling conflicts –- which was timed coincidentally alongside her co-star Barrera getting fired from the film –- she also appeared in several other high-profile scary movies. She co-starred alongside Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters in the dark comedy “Studio 666” in 2022. She also featured in director Ti West’s much-talked-about gore flick “X,” which challenged her in new ways as a performer. “You already knew what your intention was going into the scene, how Ti West wanted it,” she told Complex. “That also helps you rest a little bit better at night. I know I’ll never do a project like it again.”
Her superstar status was cemented with Wednesday
In what seems to be a natural next step in her spooky-oriented career, Jenna Ortega booked the role of a lifetime as Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton’s Netflix series “Wednesday.” The show became an instant success, and viral moments took over the internet when the show premiered in 2022. Ortega even starred alongside original 1990s Wednesday actress Christina Ricci in the show. Working with the storied star while also achieving a long-realized dream proved to be a full-circle moment for Ortega. “I’ve gotten the comparison to Wednesday a lot, and to me that was the greatest honor,” she shared with Ricci for Interview. “Especially because after that I became obsessed with Wednesday, I became obsessed with you!”
Despite being named an executive producer of the show’s second season, Ortega has admitted that she had overstepped her boundaries as an actor, taking liberties with the script while filming season one. The actor revealed that there were instances on set where she acted unprofessionally by changing lines without consulting the creative team. Yet, she still acknowledged that her role as an actor came first and foremost. “I know that I’m not in charge … But I think with someone like Wednesday, who is in every scene, it only makes sense for that person to be that involved in what’s going on behind the scenes because she’s on screen every second of the project,” she shared with Vanity Fair.
She stayed in the Tim Burton universe with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Jenna Ortega teamed up with Tim Burton within another iconic franchise, this time one of Burton’s own. In 2024, she appeared as Astrid in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the sequel to the beloved 1990 film. She starred as Winona Ryder’s character’s daughter, who gets caught up in another case of the title character’s shenanigans. Ironically, Ortega was scared of the iconic character as a child, long before she would star alongside him on screen. “When I was younger, I was scared of everything,” she shared with Hoda Kotb on Today. “I think [when] I got older, I realized that excitement is the same as fear. So it’s like, when I’m scared, I can just tell myself I’m excited.”
Acting alongside legendary performers like Michael Keaton and Willem Dafoe, Ortega felt the pressure to help make the high-pressure sequel work well. But among those legends, the young actor also found a kindred spirit with her fictitious mother both on and off set. “It just felt like a free and collaborative space, but Winona and I — I swear we just started talking one day on set and then never stopped,” she gushed to Fandango. “You could find us in the same position four hours later, never having moved. She’s the best.”
She continued to tackle more serious roles and even took on producing roles
In between roles in iconic horror franchises, Jenna Ortega has still taken time to tap into her serious side – and even serve as a producer. She starred opposite Martin Freeman in the 2024 drama “Miller’s Girl,” in which she portrayed a student opposite Freeman’s much older teacher. The film drew criticism in particular for a simulated fantasy sex scene between the two, mainly due to the pair’s significant age gap. However, the professional Ortega maintained that some films were made to make audiences uncomfortable. “Art isn’t always meant to be pleasant or happy, and everyone skips off into the sunset at the end,” she told Vanity Fair. “We all have f***ed up experiences at one point or another.”
Apart from acting, Ortega served as executive producer on “Winter Spring Summer or Fall,” in which she also appeared alongside her “Wednesday” co-star Percy Hynes White. Whether she is acting on screen or producing off-screen, the actor has emphasized that she values collaboration in all steps of the creative process. “I think a project is [at its] best when there’s as many voices and, you know, ideas thrown out as possible,” she once explained in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
She remains a steadfast advocate for several causes
Jenna Ortega isn’t just making waves in Hollywood –- she’s championing causes that have brought her to the attention of the world. From the beginning of her career, she has been an open advocate for women’s rights. She’s worn politically charged clothes to red carpets, including at the notably apolitical Radio Disney Music Awards in 2018, as a response to the then First Lady Melania Trump’s comments on immigrant children. “Our skin tone doesn’t define what we can and can’t do,” Ortega told Forbes. “It’s important for young girls to see this so that we can encourage them to embrace their intelligence and their differences.”
She has also spoken up as a supporter of Artists4Ceasefire in response to the mass slaughter of individuals in Gaza. Ortega isn’t all talk either — she consistently posts on social media about the causes she believes in, as well as encourages others to speak their mind in return. “There is no excuse to not speak up,” she told Forbes. “It doesn’t matter if you have five followers or a million followers. It doesn’t matter your age [or] where you come from. Every voice is important.”
