Jenna’s led a varied career, leading to her being crowned a ‘scream queen’ (Picture: Netflix/Paramount)
It’s safe to say that Jenna Ortega has been one of the biggest standout stars of 2022, gaining a worldwide legion of fans thanks to her incredible performance as Wednesday Addams in the new Netflix series.
At the age of 20, the actress already has almost 35million followers on Instagram, thanks to her brilliantly portrayed roles in productions from films X and Scream to psychological thriller You.
Jenna has led the cast of Wednesday to global glory, with the actress having been nominated at next year’s Golden Globe Awards.
So what else has she starred in and how did she kickstart her career?
Here’s what you need to know.
Who is Jenna Ortega?
Over the past few months, Jenna Ortega has soared to a new level of global stardom thanks to her starring role as the lead in Addams Family spin-off series Wednesday.
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However, she’d already established herself as a bona fide ‘scream queen’ before donning Wednesday’s signature plaits and deadpan mannerisms.
Prior to Wednesday’s premiere on Netflix, Jenna starred in horror films X and Scream, also released this year.
In 2021, she received critical acclaim for her performance in The Fallout, a movie in which she starred opposite Maddie Ziegler as a high school student who suffers the horrific experience of being present during a school shooting.
Jenna’s talent has made her a globally-renowned star (Picture: Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
From 2014 to 2019, she played the younger version of Jane in Jane the Virgin, the comedy-drama series starring Gina Rodriguez as the titular character.
However, her main breakthrough came in Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle, which saw Jenna actually manifest her role in Wednesday in a spooky coincidence.
In 2019, Jenna joined the second series of hit Netflix show You, in which Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley as an obsessive serial killer called Joe Goldberg.
The actress portrayed Joe’s 15-year-old neighbour Ellie Alves, who befriends him when they first meet.
She starred opposite Penn Badgley in Netflix hit You (Picture: Netflix)
Jenna has received several accolades and nominations throughout her career, including a Golden Globe nod for Wednesday in the category for best television actress in a musical/ or comedy series.
She’ll discover whether she’s won or not when the award ceremony takes place in the new year on January 11.
How did Jenna Ortega start acting?
Jenna was born in Coachella Valley, California on September 27 2002, as the fourth of six children.
In 2016, she revealed to Latina magazine how she started acting as a child, having had a burning desire to pursue her passion.
‘I started begging my mom to let me act when I was 6 years old. She pretty much ignored me because she thought it was just a phase,’ she recalled.
‘Two years later, when I still wanted to do it, she started taking it more seriously. Facebook helped me get my first agent. My mom posted a video of me doing a dramatic monologue and a friend of hers from high school forwarded it to an agent. Three months later, I got my first audition and the rest is history!’
When asked what dreams she had for the future, she responded: ‘Right now I am focused on being Harley [in Stuck in the Middle], but I would really like to get some lead roles in big feature films in the near future. When I grow up I would like to get into directing, writing, producing, and still act!’
Wednesday is available to watch on Netflix.
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The actress’ star is on the rise.
