The price of being the perfect professional
She's one of the most talked-about young actresses in Hollywood, but Jenna Ortega has revealed that the drive which fuelled her rise came at a personal cost — one she's only now beginning to reckon with.
In a new interview with Esquire, the Wednesday star, now 23, looked back on her early years in the industry, reflecting on just how far she pushed herself as a child determined to make her mark. Asked about the rookie mistakes she made on her first sets, Ortega's answer was striking — not for the mistakes she admitted to, but for the ones she didn't think she was making at the time.
"I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody. Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself."
She even recalled refusing to ask "for a sip of water" during long days on set — a level of self-denial that, with hindsight, she acknowledges was less professionalism and more a child suppressing her own needs in the hope of being no trouble to anyone.
A career that started at nine
Ortega began her career in the entertainment industry at the age of nine, racking up appearances in CSI: NY, Iron Man 3, Days of Our Lives and Richie Rich before landing a lead role in the Disney Channel sitcom Stuck in the Middle, which she starred in from 2016 to 2018.
It was a formidable work ethic from the very beginning — and she is clear about where it came from.
"I was 7 years old when I said I wanted to do this. 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."
That stubbornness, it's fair to say, has served her rather well. The role that changed everything came with Tim Burton's dark comedy series Wednesday, in which Ortega plays the deadpan, fiercely singular Wednesday Addams. The performance earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2023 for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series.
From child actor to Hollywood fixture
Since then, Ortega's trajectory has only accelerated. She appeared in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the cult horror comedy starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, and has featured in musical projects for pop stars Sabrina Carpenter and The Weeknd.
What makes her Esquire interview so quietly compelling is the contrast it draws between the polished, game-face-on child performer and the adult star now able to look back with a more critical eye. The little girl who wouldn't ask for a glass of water is the same person who, by her own admission, now makes mistakes all the time — and seems, if anything, rather relieved about it.
For anyone who grew up watching young stars carry the weight of an industry on their shoulders, Ortega's candour offers a rare and refreshingly honest glimpse behind the curtain.
