20 things you probably didn't know about Jenna Ortega

Jenna Ortega is one of six children.

Ortega was born on September 27, 2002.

During her appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in 2022, Ortega said that she grew up in the Coachella Valley in Southern California with five other siblings.

Ortega told Kimmel that her mother would find the time to drive seven hours to take Ortega to her auditions in LA despite having six kids and working as an emergency room nurse

Ortega was inspired to act by Dakota Fanning's performance in the film "Man on Fire."

Ortega was inspired to act at 6 when she watched the 2004 action thriller "Man on Fire" starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning.

Fanning played Lupita Ramos, the young girl whom former CIA agent John W. Creasy (Washington) is hired to protect. 

As she told the "Tamron Hall Show" in 2021, Ortega wanted to become "the Puerto Rican version of her." 

Ortega's favorite four films are from the 20th century

During an interview with the film social media platform Letterboxd in September, Ortega shared her four favorite films and all of them were made before she was born.

 

Ortega picked a 1995 French thriller called "La Haine," Stanley Kubrick's Oscar-winning 1975 movie "Barry Lyndon," a silent movie from 1928 called "The Passion of Joan of Arc," and a neo-western film from 1984 called "Paris, Texas."

Ortega said she was particularly taken with "The Passion of Joan of Arc."

"I feel like a dream character for me would be Joan of Arc," she said.

A casting agent discovered Ortega in a video her mother put on Facebook.

When Ortega was 7 years old, her mother posted a video on Facebook of Ortega performing a monologue.

"It was kind of a joke," Ortega said during an interview on the "Tamron Hall Show" in 2021. "I remember at the time she didn't want me to be an actor — it's kind of funny how things turned out — but she just wasn't sure about putting me in that environment or this industry that she had heard such terrible things about. She posted it just as a joke for her friends, because her friends on Facebook knew I was very dramatic."

During her interview with Wired for their "Web's Most Searched Questions" series in November 2022, Ortega said that the passage she acted out came from a monologue book her mother had given her to stop her talking about becoming an actor.

After Ortega performed the monologue for her mother, she asked her to do it again so she could record it and put it on Facebook.

A casting agent saw the video and immediately reached out. Ortega was cast in a series of commercials for brands like McDonald's and Old Navy before eventually landing TV and film roles. 

 

Ortega had a crush on Barack Obama when she was younger.

Ortega told Elle in 2023 that she had a huge crush on former US President Barack Obama when she was younger.

Ortega said she told her mom she wanted to become the first female president due to her crush on Obama.

"I had phases where I clung to something and then made it my entire personality," Ortega said. "To this day, I'm still obsessed with Obama."

Ortega's first role was in a toothpaste commercial.

While hosting on "Saturday Night Live" for the first time in March 2023, the "Scream" star revealed that her first ever acting gig was in a toothpaste commercial when she was 9.

Ortega's first TV acting roles were in "Rob" and "CSI: NY" in 2012.

Ortega told Wired that the first movie she acted in was called "After Words," which wasn't released until 2015.

Ortega was accidentally cast in three McDonald's commercials in one year.

During her appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in 2022, Ortega said she accidentally starred in three McDonald's commercials in one year because the casting directors were unaware of her previous commercials when they hired her.

"I was accidentally McDonald's girl for a year," Ortega said. 

She went on to say that each time, she was cast as a child holding an apple in the commercials, much to her disappointment.

"It was like the most one of the most disappointing experiences of my life," Ortega said. "Every time I see an apple, I'm just infuriated. I have, like, rage."

Ortega voiced Disney's first-ever Latina princess in the animated series "Elena of Avalor."

From 2016 to 2020, Ortega voiced Princess Isabel in "Elena of Avalor," a Disney animated series centered on Disney's first Latina princess as she ruled a fictional kingdom that drew heavy inspiration from the culture of Latin America. 

Ortega is a self-proclaimed "weirdo" and had a highly unusual hobby as a child.

After starring in strange projects like "Wednesday" and horror films like "X," Ortega seems perfectly comfortable volunteering some unusual information about herself. 

During an interview with Wired, for example, Ortega revealed she conducted play autopsies on animals as a kid. 

"I used to perform autopsies on little animals when I was younger, like little lizards that I found dead in our backyard," she told the publication. 

Ortega was covered in fake blood in an audition for "Wednesday."

Ortega told Wired that she had to do one of her auditions for the lead role in "Wednesday" just after filming a scene for the horror film "X."

Ortega, who had just finished a bloody scene, turned up to an audition with the show's producer, Tim Burton, covered in blood.

"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," she said. "I got on the Zoom, and he actually laughed. It made me laugh. I thought it was endearing."

Ortega learned the cello for her role in "Wednesday."

One of Wednesday's key skills in the hit Netflix series is that she is an adept cello player. 

Ortega told Wired that she had to learn it for the role.

"I started working on the cello about two months before we started shooting," Ortega said. "I probably couldn't play too well now just because I've been away from home so much working, and it is something that I want to continue to pursue."

She continued: "I have immense respect for anybody who plays the cello. I think it's such a delightful instrument."

Ortega was a vegan before filming "Wednesday" but changed her diet during production.

Ortega told Wired she was a longtime vegan before filming "Wednesday" but changed her eating habits while shooting the show. The show was shot in Romania, which emphasizes a diet based on meat, eggs, dairy, bread, and sugar.

"I was vegan for a really long time, but I stopped being vegan when I went to Romania to shoot 'Wednesday' actually, because the food is very different there, and I don't think I was meeting my nutrition requirements, so I started eating fish again," the actor told Wired, adding that she's currently pescatarian. 

She has a "very dark sense of humor."

Ortega is an apt choice to play Wednesday Addams for many reasons, including her morbid sense of humor.

During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in November 2022, Jenna discussed her twisted humor on the "Wednesday" set, including jokes exchanged with Christina Ricci. 

"Socially I can be kind of hard to communicate with at times, and sometimes I would say something as a joke, and I think I have a very dark sense of humor, and she would go, 'Oh, that's dark,'" Ortega said.

Ortega was cast in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" around the time "Wednesday" premiered.

Starring in "Wednesday" helped Ortega get a role in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" because Tim Burton directed both.

Ortega said on an episode of "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" in August that Burton approached her about starring in the film a few days before "Wednesday" season one premiered in November 2022. In another interview with BuzzFeed in August, she said it was a few days after "Wednesday" season one premiered.

In both interviews, Burton asked Ortega to meet up to talk about ideas for "Wednesday" season two but when she arrived, he gave her the script to "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."

 

"He just placed the script of "Beetlejuice" in my journal and he didn't tell anyone," Ortega told Fallon of the meeting with Burton. "He just said, 'There's no pressure, Jenna, but I think there's a part for you. But, again, if you don't want to do it, you know, don't.' And I just said, 'Okay. Thanks, Tim.'"

In both interviews, Ortega said that she drove down the road, pulled over to read the script, and then knew immediately that she wanted to star in the film.

"I called my team, and I said, 'I can't tell you what I'm agreeing to, but I am agreeing to it,'" Ortega told Fallon. 

Ortega auditioned for "Dune" and Disney's live-action remake of "Dumbo" but missed out on both roles.

In recent interviews, Ortega has shared some of the roles that she missed out on when she was younger.

In the interview with BuzzFeed in August, Ortega said she auditioned for "Dune" when she was 15 because she loved the 1984 movie and wanted to work with Denis Villeneuve, the director of the reboot.

"Denis is one of my favorite filmmakers," Ortega said, before adding that she thought she was auditioning for the role of Chani, which eventually went to Zendaya.

Another missed opportunity was Disney's live-action remake of "Dumbo" in 2019. Burton also directed that movie.

During a conversation with Michael Keaton for GQ's YouTube series "Epic Conversation," Ortega said she was 14 when she auditioned because she wanted to work with Burton.

"I was very used to being told no," Ortega said. "But I remember 'Dumbo' being one that for weeks, I was just gutted and I thought, 'What if I never get the opportunity to work with him again?'"

Ortega doesn't go anywhere without her pair of Sony noise-canceling headphones.

Maybe it's because Ortega grew up with five siblings, but the actor usually prefers to listen to something or have something playing in the background, she told New York Magazine's The Strategist in March 2022. 

Because of that, Ortega always carries around a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, which tech critics generally agree are some of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy. 

"I wear these on set," she said. "I wear them going to work, leaving work, going for walks. Even feeling the headphones on my chest is comforting. People call me a perpetual headphone head. I love these, because I can control them from the side without pulling out my phone."

"I've also been getting into a lot more film scores lately, and these are so grand and elegant," she continued. "They're noise-canceling, so the sound quality is better for complicated pieces. I can pick up on different things I wouldn't if my phone was just playing the music on the counter."

She's a proud ambassador for UNAIDS.

To honor her grandfather, who died after being diagnosed with AIDS, Ortega has worked closely with the United Nations program UNAIDS.

"I want to help eliminate the stigma of AIDS and get people talking about it," the actor said while speaking at WE Day, a youth empowerment event, in 2017. "Make it normal. Bring it up. It's a disease that affects all of us."

Ortega clearly holds her grandfather in high regard, telling Refinery29 in January 2021 that he would be a dream dinner guest.

"I'm told we share a lot of the same qualities, but we never got the chance to meet!" she said. 

Ortega is a huge "Stranger Things" fan.

Ortega is a self-described "Stranger Things" nerd. During an interview with the blog Talk Nerdy With Us in 2016, the actor acknowledged she pays close attention to fan theories about the show.

"I nerd out about 'Stranger Things!'" Ortega said. "I follow everyone's theories about the show, and I cannot get enough of it."

She published her first book in 2021.

Released in early 2021, Ortega's first foray into book publishing offers a collection of personal stories and quotes with insights into her experience as a Latina in Hollywood.

While there are tales of being passed over for roles, the book also discusses more universal experiences like crushes, faith, friendship, managing self-confidence, and depression. 

"When I'm working, I try to bring love and positivity to the set with me every day," she wrote. "I love my craft, and I'm so grateful that I get to follow my passion. I let that love pour out in small ways and big ways: doing nice, thoughtful things for the people I'm working with goes a long way." 

Ortega landed her first fashion campaign in 2021.

Ortega landed her first-ever fashion campaign, for American Eagle, in 2021. She promoted the apparel brand alongside Addison Rae, "Outers Banks" actors Chase Stokes and Madison Bailey, and "Strangers Things" actor Caleb McLaughlin.

"The clothes are very soft and comfortable, so I felt more relaxed than I usually do at photoshoots," Ortega told Nylon in 2021 about American Eagle. "It's also rare I get to work with people my age, so reconnecting with my old friend Caleb and meeting the others was pretty cool for me."

When it comes to finding fashion inspiration in general, Ortega keeps it simple. 

"I just try to pay attention to what I feel my best in," the actor added. "As long as I feel good, I think that's all that matters."