Pop Culture
TV & MoviesCelebrityBest of the InternetAnimalsMusicRewindBooksLGBTQQuizzes
LatestTrendingFoodLoveTriviaQuiz PartyShopping
LatestHomeFashionTechBeauty & Personal CarePetsSports & FitnessBuzzFeed MerchVideo
LatestCocoa ButterNEW!Mom In ProgressWorth ItUnsolved True CrimeUnsolved SupernaturalMultiplayerPero LikeCocoa ButterLifestyle
As/Is: StyleBringMe: TravelGoodful: WellnessNifty: DIYParentsFoodWeddingsSex And LoveTasty HomeNEW!Community
What is Community?Join Community!Featured PostsLeaderboardFrom Our Partners
Tech the HallsFriends, Food, FunHottest Gifts of 2022Get Your Gifting OnHablando ClaroAbout
About UsAdvertiseInvestor RelationsJobsNewslettersEditionUSUKAustraliaBrasilCanadaDeutschlandIndiaJapanLatamCalifornia residents can opt out of "sales" of personal data.Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2022 BuzzFeed, Inc PressRSSPrivacyConsent PreferencesUser TermsAccessibility StatementAd ChoicesHelpContactSitemapBuzzFeed NewsReporting on what you care about. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing.BuzzFeed TastySearch, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place!BuzzFeed GoodfulSelf care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life.BuzzFeed Bring MeObsessed with travel? Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me!BuzzFeed As IsSomething for everyone interested in hair, makeup, style, and body positivity.Celebrity·Posted 12 minutes ago16 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Jenna Ortega That You Probably Didn't Know, But Definitely Should
She's only the second actor from the Scream movie franchise to actually be a teenager while playing a teenager in the movie.
by Lauren GarafanoBuzzFeed Staff
FacebookPinterestTwitterMailLink
It's no surprise that Jenna Ortega has taken Hollywood by storm with her now-giant list of credits. Just this year alone, with her work in Scream 5 and X, she's quickly become one of my new favorite scream queens.
Michael Tullberg / FilmMagic / Getty
But what truly blew my mind was her stellar portrayal of Wednesday Addams in the new Netflix series Wednesday.
Netflix
She's sooooooOOo freaking good in it, you guys!
To celebrate her already-iconic performance, here are 16 facts you probably never knew about her:
1. Jenna was born Sept. 27, 2002 and is a Libra.
Paras Griffin / Getty Images
She also shared that she doesn't know much about astrology, but she does know that Libras are very indecisive, and she agrees.
2. She just turned 20 years old but has been steadily working in Hollywood for the last decade. She was only 10 when she had her first role as a guest star on the 2012 series Rob.
CBS / youtube.com
She's also best known for her roles on Jane the Virgin, You Season 2, Yes Day, and Stuck in the Middle.
3. She's of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, and her maternal great-grandma emigrated from a small ranch near Sinaloa, Mexico.
Rich Polk / Getty Images for MTV
In an essay for PopSugar, she wrote, "I am 75 percent Mexican and 25 percent Puerto Rican. My great-grandma on my mother's side migrated from a small ranch near Sinaloa, Mexico. She came to the United States as an illegal immigrant in hopes to make a better life for her four daughters."
4. She was first discovered when she was just 9 years old. Jenna's mom posted a video of her reciting a monologue on Facebook, and it got the attention of a family friend who knew a casting agent.
youtube.com
She told Tamron Hall she didn't even know her mom posted the video and that it was only meant for close friends to see. "She posted it just as a joke for inside friends because her friends on Facebook knew that I was very dramatic."
5. She went to public school in California up until she was cast in Stuck in the Middle on Disney Channel. Then, for most of high school, she was homeschooled. She even went to a prom thrown by Disney, where she met stars from other shows.
Disney Channel
She told Jimmy Kimmel, "I think they're trying to make us feel normal, but it's just really awkward because you don't know these kids and their parents are there. It's a really sweet thing on Disney's part, but it is a bit odd."
6. Jenna started off acting in commercials for brands like Colgate and Old Navy. One year, she accidentally became a "McDonald's Girl" after three different casting directors put her in consecutive ads for the fast-food company.
Colgate / Facebook: watch
7. She's a big fan of all things spooky and gravitates toward darker scripts because of "some invisible string" that connects her to them.
View this photo on Instagram
@jennaortega / instagram.com
She told the Face, "I love things that are a bit off-putting, things when the closer you look, really aren’t that pretty. I love things that are disturbing." She added, “There’s some invisible string that’s connected to serial killers, monsters, creatures, and myself. No matter where I go.”
8. She even used to perform autopsies on already dead animals when she was younger.
Wired / youtube.com
9. All her life she's been compared to Wednesday Addams because of her dry sense of humor. She added, "I don't think people can tell when I'm being serious or when I'm being sarcastic."
View this photo on Instagram
@jennaortega / instagram.com
She said, "I didn't think it was that bad until we were on set sometimes, and Tim [Burton] might say, 'Oh, that was...dark.'"
10. She and Maddie Ziegler, who she starred alongside in The Fallout, are very close friends, and she even considers them "the same person in different fonts."
View this photo on Instagram
@jennaortega / instagram.com
“She's one of my greatest friends ever. She was somebody that I instantly clicked with.”
11. She actually showed up to her Wednesday audition covered in blood — both fake and real. She explained that she auditioned for Tim Burton over Zoom, right after filming her character's death scene in X. While she was covered in fake blood for the scene, she also wore a prosthetic that left an actual cut on her chin.
A24
During her Wired Autocomplete Interview she said, "When I met with Tim Burton for Wednesday, I had stage blood and glycerin sweat in my hair and a massive cut on my face and had been up for over 24 hours. I got on Zoom, and he actually laughed. It made me laugh. I thought it was endearing."
12. Jenna didn't want to do an impression of Christina Ricci's portrayal of Wednesday from the '90s films, and they never even spoke about Christina having played the role before.
View this photo on Instagram
@jennaortega / instagram.com
Jenna explained, "I think maybe one time on the last week of shooting I made a reference to her Wednesday. But I think that we both were able to appreciate the fact that they were gonna be different. I didn't wanna knock her off, and I didn't wanna be doing some impression of her. I think it was really important that we just kept our ideas separate."
13. She's only the second actor from the Scream movie franchise to actually be a teenager while playing a teenager in the movie.
View this photo on Instagram
@jennaortega / instagram.com
Emma Roberts was the first, and she was 19 while filming Scream 4.
14. She's a massive chocolate lover, and her go-to ice cream flavors are chocolate fudge brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough.
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
15. She previously lent her voice to Isabel on Disney's animated series Elena of Avalor, the series that introduced the brand's first Latina princess.
Disney
16. And finally, she once pranked a friend by taking their deodorant and replacing it with butter — her friend never found out it was Jenna who did it.
Rodin Eckenroth / WireImage / Getty
If you haven't already, be sure to check Jenna out in Wednesday, which is streaming on Netflix now!
Watch Once Upon A Time In Londongrad from BuzzFeed Studios, a new true crime docuseries based on the explosive BuzzFeed News investigation, now streaming on Peacock.
Peacock / BuzzFeed
Share This Article
FacebookPinterestTwitterMailLinkBuzzFeed Daily
Keep up with the latest daily buzz with the BuzzFeed Daily newsletter!
Newsletter signup formEmail AddressSign upThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
