Actress Jenna Ortega is opening up about a dark time in her life as a child star. After rising to fame on the sitcom “Rob” and later landing roles in shows like “Jane the Virgin” and “Stuck in the Middle,” the 23-year-old knows the pressures that come with working on high-profile productions. And to keep her position on said shows safe, Ortega admitted that she developed unhealthy habits that she looks back on with a bit of regret.
Ortega, who now stars in the Netflix original “Wednesday,” spoke with Esquire about life in the spotlight and said that while she’s sure she made mistakes when she first broke into the industry, her primary focus was to be on her best behavior while on set.
“Is that a terrible thing to say? I feel like I make mistakes now all the time, but as a child, I was so grateful and so excited to be there that my game face was on,” she reflected.
According to the California native, Ortega didn’t want to be seen as complicated while working with adults and other professional actors. “I wasn’t asking for a sip of water. I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody,” she said.
As she looked back, she said that her rookie mistake “was not actually looking after myself.”
What Motivated Jenna Ortega To Be An Actor?
In addition to the above works, Ortega has snagged roles in “Iron Man,” “Insidious,” “Scream,” and “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”
During her chat with Esquire, Ortega revealed that she was only seven when she realized she wanted to be an actor. Her motivation to make it big was only fueled by the conversation she had with her parents when she told them about her dream.
“My parents laughed at me when I told them that I wanted to do it, and then that kind of was the root of everything. The motivation. And I never really stopped, because I’m very stubborn. And then I never questioned it,” she said.
Jenna Ortega Looked Up To This Child Star
Luckily for Ortega, she had other child stars to look up to for motivation, such as Dakota Fanning, who was in “I Am Sam” and “Uptown Girls.” Fanning’s work inspired Ortega to push forward and reach for the stars.
“As a young girl, to see a young girl with so much, it felt like wisdom, like she had lived and walked this planet many times before … she kind of taught me what an actor even was when I was a kid,” Ortega revealed.
Ortega Previously Talked About Stepping Away From Kid Roles
Before landing the role of Wednesday in the Netflix black comedy series, Ortega was spotted in “You” alongside Penn Badgley. In the series, she played Ellie Alves, a teenager who befriends Joe but is forced to move to another state because of a predatory neighbor.
Her appearance in “You” was her first more mature role, something she previously revealed was intentional on Kid Cudi’s “Big Bro” podcast.
“When I was a teenager, I’d gotten off a children’s show, and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said, per The Blast. “I had to prove myself and meet all these new casting directors who didn’t know who I was.”
Ortega even revealed that her time on the set of “You” made her realize how much she loved the craft. “[Before ‘You’] just felt like a good time to call it quits [with acting] if I was going to. I was starting high school, and, ‘It was a good run’ sort of thing. We had talked about it for a few months with my team. And then, I think I booked that show You, and then I went on that set, and I loved it and had the best time. I thought, ‘Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go,’” she said.
Ortega Showed Her Respects To Catherine O’Hara
In early February 2026, Ortega honored the late Catherine O’Hara with a two-slide post on Instagram. The iconic actress died at age 71.
“Catherine is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever had the honor of getting to work with and know,” Ortega wrote, according to The Blast. “I’ll forever cherish the time we shared together, and everything she taught me.”
Ortega and O’Hara worked together in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a blockbuster film that grossed $452 million at the box office in 2024.
As she finished, Ortega recognized O’Hara as one of the industry’s greats, calling her a “giant and an inspiration in many ways.”
