Jenna Ortega
- In full:
- Jenna Marie Ortega
- Born:
- September 27, 2002, Coachella Valley, California, U.S.
- Also Known As:
- Jenna Marie Ortega
Jenna Ortega (born September 27, 2002, Coachella Valley, California, U.S.) is an American actress who began her career as a child actor, starring in such Disney Channel shows as Stuck in the Middle (2016–18), and later went on to gain international fame with the lead role in the hit Netflix series Wednesday (2022– ). Ortega often discussed her Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage and the difficulty she had in finding roles as a Latina performer.
Early life
Ortega was born in Coachella Valley, California, the fourth of six siblings. Her father, Edward Ortega, is a businessperson of Mexican descent, and her mother, Natalie Ortega, is a nurse of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage. Both parents were supportive of their daughter’s desire to become an actress, even though Jenna Ortega struggled early on to find roles. She later commented that she was often rejected by casting directors because she “did not have the look they were going for.”
Stuck in the Middle and You
In 2012 Ortega nonetheless made her acting debut with a minor role in the short-lived television sitcom Rob and a guest appearance on CSI: NY, a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Her first big-screen part was in the blockbuster Iron Man 3 (2013) portraying the U.S. vice president’s daughter. Ortega soon received a recurring role in the television series Jane the Virgin (2014–19), playing the younger version of the title character. Her appearances on the hit show helped her gain some recognition in Hollywood. She was then cast in the films The Little Rascals Save the Day (2014) and After Words (2015) as well as the Netflix series Richie Rich (2015).
Ortega’s breakout role, however, came playing Harley Diaz in the Disney sitcom Stuck in the Middle. She starred as the middle child of seven siblings, who invents gadgets to deal with living in a large family. At the same time, Ortega voiced Princess Isabel in the Disney animated series Elena of Avalor (2016–20).
Ortega gained further fame when she starred as Ellie Alves in the second season (2019) of the hit Netflix show You. She followed that up with a string of slasher films that include The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020), Scream (2022), Studio 666 (2022), X (2022), American Carnage (2022), and Scream VI (2023). For her role as Tara Carpenter in Scream, Ortega won most frightened performance at the 2022 MTV Movie and TV Awards.
Wednesday and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
In between horror films Ortega also took on more lighthearted fare, portraying the teenage daughter in the family comedy Yes Day (2021). She was also highly praised for her acting in The Fallout (2021), in which she was cast as a survivor of a high-school shooting. That same year the 17-year-old actress released the book It’s All Love: Reflections for Your Heart & Soul, which details the challenges of her life and career. Among the topics are depression, love, and her struggles with building a career as a Latina in Hollywood.
In 2022 Ortega accepted the starring role in the Netflix series Wednesday. In the Tim Burton-produced horror-comedy, Ortega portrays Wednesday Addams, the iconic character originally from The Addams Family comic. In the streaming series, her parents enroll her in Nevermore Academy to train her in her psychic powers. She won best actress in a horror series at the Critics’ Choice Super Awards and was nominated for best actress in a musical or comedy television series at the Golden Globe Awards. More success followed with the hit film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), a sequel to Beetlejuice (1988). The dark comedy, which was directed by Burton, centers on a widow (Winona Ryder) who—with her teenage daughter (Ortega)—returns to her childhood home, where she again meets an annoying ghost (Michael Keaton).
