Jenna Ortega knew “Wednesday” was coming at a pivotal time in her career.

The former child star had already experienced a decade-worth of TV roles and was focused on cementing her film career status just as the Netflix series, helmed by her icon Tim Burton, was in the casting process.

“I got the email, passed on it. I had done so much TV in my life, all I’ve ever wanted to do is film,” Ortega told The Sunday Times. “When I first started acting, I don’t want to say nobody believed in me, but at the same time nobody believed in me. You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve been able to start going up for film.”

She continued, “I was scared that by signing on to another television show it could prevent me from doing other jobs I really wanted and cared about. The only reason I went back is because Tim [Burton] is such a legend, and we just happened to get along very well. But even then I said, ‘Ah, no, I think I’m OK,’ a couple [more] times.”

Ortega recently admitted that she “had to put my foot down on a set” when it came to certain “Wednesday” scripts.

“There were times on that set where I even became unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines,” the “You” alum shared. The script supervisor thought I was going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”

She continued, “I grew very, very protective of her, but you can’t lead a story and have no emotional arc because then it’s boring and nobody likes you. And Wednesday is a teenager. When you’re little and you say morbid, offensive stuff, it’s funny and endearing and, ‘Aww, you don’t know any better.’ But then you become a teenager, it’s, ‘Now you’re being nasty and you know it.’ There’s less excuse.”

Ortega concluded, “A job like Wednesday, I was trying something completely different. I’m naturally a very expressive person. I haven’t really done a teen show like that before. It’s not typically the kind of TV that I would watch, so it felt very out of place for me.”

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Jenna Ortega kicked off Saturday Night Live by revealing why she took on the hosting gig.

The 20-year-old Wednesday actress is the youngest host of the season, and she kicked off the March 11 episode with a couple of jokes about her string of horror roles and her first ever acting job.

She also welcomed a special guest onstage!

Read more about Jenna Ortega’s opening monologue for Saturday Night Live…

“A lot of people assume that I’m dark and twisted in real life because of these roles that I play. But I am not like that at all,” Jenna said about being typecast for her roles in the likes of Wednesday and Scream 6. “I think there is just something about my face where people see it and they’re like ‘Hey, let’s throw blood on that.’”

She also claimed that she isn’t what makes her so scary.

“Scary music and editing can make anything seem like a horror film,” she explained before transforming a clip from her first acting gig – an adorable Colgate commercial – into the stuff of nightmares.

Why did Jenna decide to host SNL? “I wanted to face my biggest fear – happy, extroverted people who are always trying to perform,” she shared.

Her Wednesday co-star Fred Armisen – a SNL alum – showed up to support Jenna from the audience and joined her onstage for a quick exchange.

Check out the latest very exciting casting news for Jenna. The actress also made a surprising revelation about her part in Wednesday.

Watch Jenna Ortega’s Saturday Night Live opening monologue below…

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justjared.com/2023/03/11/jenna…

When Wes Craven finished “Scream 3” in 2000, the legendary horror director and his star-studded cast swore they had completed their trilogy. But just like a slasher victim who claims he’ll “be right back,” they all spoke too soon. 11 years later, Craven would reunite with Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox for “Scream 4”: an entirely self-aware sendup of the genre’s past decade of evolution and their own hilariously misguided comments. That dramatic irony set the stage for Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin to take over the franchise in 2022 with debatable bang in the form of “Scream,” a love-it-or-hate-it “re-quel” that riffed on the trend of horror franchises that try to reboot themselves while bringing back beloved leads as supporting characters. The wait for the next “Scream” movie wasn’t nearly as long, as Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin delivered the Manhattan-set “Scream VI” just a year later.

The slightly-less-meta nature of “Scream VI” made it clear that this franchise doesn’t need to tie itself to film industry trends to thrive — and its early critical and commercial success suggest that there’s no reason to think it’ll end soon. The latest film’s producers recently told IndieWire that they hope the series will continue forever, so horror fans should strap in for another 26 years of Ghostface stabbings!

If you’re even moderately curious about the “Scream” franchise, this is the perfect time to dive in. While new viewers should watch the films in chronological order to keep up with the endlessly self-referential jokes, it’s always fun to debate the merits of the seemingly endless sequels. Keep reading for our rankings of the six “Scream” movies that have been released so far.

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Jenna Ortega might be continuing her professional relationship with Tim Burton as she’s in talks to star in the sequel to his classic movie Beetlejuice.

The movie is in the works right now with a potential shoot happening this summer. Original star Michael Keaton is attached to return.

Jenna recently worked with Burton on the smash hit Netflix series Wednesday and a second season of the show has already been ordered.

“It’s been quite an insane experience,” Jenna told THR about working with Burton. “I’ve been lucky enough to get the opportunity to work with an iconic director who just so happens to be one of the sweetest directors I’ve worked with, and also the most detail-oriented.”

So, who will Jenna play if she signs on?

Keep reading to find out more…

The Hollywood Reporter says that Jenna is in talks to play the daughter of Lydia Deetz, who was played by Winona Ryder in the first movie.

Beetlejuice will be celebrating its 35th anniversary in a few weeks!

A comment that Jenna made in a recent interview has been getting some backlash.

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Jenna Ortega is “circling” a major role in the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel!

Beetlejuice 2 is in the works right now with Tim Burton expected to direct and Michael Keaton returning as the beloved character.

Jenna recently worked with Burton on the smash hit Netflix series Wednesday and a second season of the show has already been ordered.

“It’s been quite an insane experience,” Jenna told THR about working with Burton. “I’ve been lucky enough to get the opportunity to work with an iconic director who just so happens to be one of the sweetest directors I’ve worked with, and also the most detail-oriented.”

So, who will Jenna play if she signs on?

Keep reading to find out more…

The Hollywood Reporter says that Jenna is in talks to play the daughter of Lydia Deetz, who was played by Winona Ryder in the first movie.

Beetlejuice will be celebrating its 35th anniversary in a few weeks!

A comment that Jenna made in a recent interview has been getting some backlash.

justjared.com/2023/03/09/jenna…

Jenna Ortega was likely wishing that she had a Tide bleach pen on hand when she walked the red carpet for the Scream 6 premiere earlier this week.

The 20-year-old Wednesday actress joined her co-stars at the movie’s New York City premiere on Monday night (March 6).

She looked cool in a black and white dress with a plunging neckline. However, Jenna suffered a wardrobe malfunction of sorts after accidentally getting an ink stain on her outfit.

She poked fun at the situation in a post on social media.

Read more about Jenna Ortega’s response to her wardrobe malfunction…

In a post on Instagram, Jenna hinted at the accident with a creative hashtag – #sharpiestainwhogivesas-it.

The star also included an apology to Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing. ET Canada noted that he helped design her outfit.

Based on pics from the event, Jenna‘s accident happened at the premiere. There are plenty of pics where the dress appears stain-free. She was also seen posing in a couple of group shots with her hand seemingly covering the stain.

Maybe it happened while signing autographs? Either way, it’s good to see Jenna wasn’t overly bothered by the accident!

If you missed it, Jenna recently revealed her relationship status and explained that she felt “infected” during a recent interview. Find out what she meant by that here.

FYI: Jenna was wearing Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture.

Scroll through pics of Jenna Ortega at the Scream 6 premiere to see her look before and after the wardrobe malfunction in the gallery…

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Jenna Ortega and Camila Mendes could potentially be playing sisters in an upcoming play to movie adaptation, according to new reports.

It’s been said that the two actresses have been cast in Alba, a film based on the play The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca.

Also reportedly cast in the movie is Danny Ramirez, who worked with Camila‘s Riverdale co-star Lili Reinhart on the Netflix movie Look Both Ways.

Find out more info inside…

According to IndieWire, the story “follows the titular Bernarda Alba who enacts an eight-year mourning period after her husband dies; her daughters, however, rebel against the custom as they had a tumultuous relationship with their father.”

The site also reports at the A24 will produce the film along with Margot Robbie‘s LuckyChap Entertainment banner, with Francisca Alegria attached to direct.

However, Geek Vibes Nation, who seems to be the originator of the reports, says that Jenna‘s reps shared that she has not been cast in the reported film.

That site also states that the story will modernized and take place in Miami, with filming looking to begin this summer.

Jenna and Camila both have multiple other projects currently in the works, some having already been filmed – this includes Jenna‘s Winter Spring Summer or Fall and Camila‘s Música!

Camila‘s Riverdale also kicks off it’s final season in just a few weeks. Watch the season seven trailer here.

As always, stay tuned to Just Jared Jr for more official news on this potential upcoming project.

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Jenna Ortega‘s first Saturday Night Live promo has arrived!

The 20-year-old actress will be hosting the sketch show THIS Saturday (March 11), and they released a new promo for her appearance.

In the clip, we see comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy (Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy), all dressed as Jenna in the dance scene, pitching doing the dance in promo for SNL.

Check out the video inside…

“Honestly, this is really well-written,” Jenna tells the guys. “I just don’t feel like I want to do the Wednesday dance for promo because we’ve seen so much of it already. I think it’s time to do something new.”

The guys then say how they didn’t really want to do it either, and she points out how they’re dressed, which was confusing. She then reluctantly agrees to do it, and it cuts to her doing the dance with two of them, while the third records on their phone.

Check out the promo video right here!

The night before the promo dropped, Jenna was seen going out to a Saturday Night Live cast dinner wearing the same outfit as in the video. Check out photos in the gallery.

Prior to that, she stepped out for the premiere of her new movie Scream VI.

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What’s your favorite scary movie?

Well, “Scream VI” star Jenna Ortega already has a list of her go-to horror films.

The “X” and “Wednesday” actress made her debut in the “Scream” franchise with 2022’s fifth installment. A newly-minted scream queen (literally), Ortega’s lifelong love of horror and gore has framed her decade-spanning career.

“I love horror films. I don’t know what it is about having blood thrown on your face and running around screaming bloody murder,” Ortega said during “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in January 2023. “It really is so therapeutic, so much fun.”

However, Ortega has never pigeonholed herself solely as a one-note horror actress.

“I never really considered it because a lot of what I do is horror, and they all have these moody and nasty qualities, but what I love is that they also have a sassy teenage nature,” Ortega told Who What Wear. “The thing about horror is that it’s become a second home to me at this point. I’ve been on enough of those sets [that] I go and I know what’s expected of me. It feels like a typical 9-to-5.”

With roles in “Insidious: Chapter 2,” “Babysitter: Killer Queen,” and “You,” Ortega has cemented her place in horror history. A true cinephile, the former child star’s roots are as deeply seeded with Stanley Kubrick and François Truffaut as the Disney Channel.

The “Stuck in the Middle” alum urged Golden Globes viewers to revisit a Truffaut classic, saying when presenting an award during the ceremony, “If you haven’t seen ‘Jules and Jim,’ I don’t know what you’re doing. Get on that.”

Ortega also noted the “Kubrick stare” as a direct inspiration for her take on Wednesday Addams in the Tim Burton Netflix series. “She doesn’t blink,” Ortega said of the character during the “Today” show. “[Tim] likes it when I tilt my chin down and look through my eyebrows, kind of like a Kubrick stare, and then I relax all the muscles in my face.”

She knows her stuff. Tim Burton and Kubrick’s influences on Ortega’s acting further align with her taste in film. Keep scrolling to see Ortega’s top horror movie picks.

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Jenna Ortega is filled with satirical woe at the idea of performing the viral “Wednesday” dance for “SNL.”

The “Scream VI” star, who led the record-breaking Addams Family spin-off Netflix hit series back in late 2022, hosts “Saturday Night Live” March 11. In a promo for her upcoming appearance, Ortega deadpans that she is unwilling to get back into her black lace costume for a bit.

“Honestly, this is really well-written, but I just don’t feel like I want to do the ‘Wednesday’ dance for promo because we’ve seen so much of that already and I think it’s time to do something new,” Ortega says in the ad.

The Please Don’t Destroy “SNL” group begin to roast her for refusing to do it until Ortega eventually gives in and disinterestedly goes along with the choreography.

Ortega recently revealed that she asked “Wednesday” executive producer/director Burton to not hire a choreographer for the viral dance sequence because she had “stopped trusting outside opinion” about the character and was “so overwhelmed.”

“Initially, it was supposed to be a flash mob and she was supposed to start dancing and everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her. And that, I vetoed, because why would she be OK with that?” Ortega said during Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast. “I said, ‘Either cut it or have Wednesday knock someone out, and then it’s done.’”

The dance sequence ultimately felt “very Wednesday” to Ortega due to her creative control over it. Ortega is also serving as an executive producer on Season 2 of the series.

“There were times on that set where I even became unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines,” Ortega admitted. “The script supervisor thought I was going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”

Filming “Wednesday” in Romania also conflicted with Ortega reprising her role on Netflix’s “You,” leaving the actress “devastated.”

Despite Ortega’s critically acclaimed turn as Wednesday and landing Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globe nominations, the “X” star chalks up the series’ success to audiences just being “easy to please.”

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Jenna Ortega has been open about how much the role of Wednesday Addams consumed her while she was filming the hit Netflix series, Wednesday, last year.

Now, the 20-year-old actress, is also revealing that she actually changed some of the scripts as well.

Keep reading to find out more…

During her appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, Jenna opened up about how she “put my foot down on a set” to keep Wednesday grounded.

She continued, “There were times on that set where I even became unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”

“Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all,” Jenna added, before recalling a few of the scenes she changed: “Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about this dress that she has to wear for a school dance and she says, ‘Oh my god, I love it! I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ And I had to go, ‘No, there’s no way.’”

Take a listen to her full interview below:

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Jenna Ortega has been acting for years now, with an array of roles, but Wednesday has brought a whole new level of attention to her career.

In a new interview, the 20-year-old actress opened up about changing lines in the script, not having the proudest moment while filming and how she doesn’t want to be known for just this role.

Keep reading to see what she said…

While appearing on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast, Jenna admit she would constantly change lines on set, becoming “unprofessional.”

“There was times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense, where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought that, like, I was going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers, and they would be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things,” Jenna said.

She even revealed that her iconic dance scene, which she choreographed herself and filmed while sick, was originally supposed to be a flash mob, but she vetoed that.

“She was supposed to start dancing, and everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her. And that I vetoed, because why would she be okay with that?” she shared. “I said, ‘Either cut it or have Wednesday knock someone out, and then it’s done.’”

She later admitted that “there was not a scene in that show that I went home and was like, ‘okay, that should be fine,’” she said.

Now that the first season has been such a big and success, she does worry about being known for just this, even though she’s been working for a decade.

“Now a lot of people know me from that. It’s not my proudest moment internally, which, I think, also adds an extra level of insecurity and stress,” Jenna said. “Because it’s like, no, I’m finally getting these offers to these places that I want, but I don’t want to be known specifically for that.”

If you missed it, Jenna also recently shared that she cried hysterically during filming on season one.

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Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera and Jasmin Savoy Brown snap a group photo at the premiere of their new movieScream VI held at AMC Lincoln Square Theatre on Monday (March 6) in New York City.

The ladies were joined by several of their current and past co-stars at the premiere.

From Scream VI, their co-stars Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox all stepped out.

Their Scream co-stars Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette and Skeet Ulrich were also in attendance, as well as directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and Demi Lovato and Mike Shinoda, who wrote “Still Alive” featured in the end credits.

The next morning, a final trailer for the upcoming slasher film was released.

Check it out inside…

In the upcoming movie, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter.

Scream VI hits theaters THIS Friday (March 10)!

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FYI: Jenna is wearing Jean Paul Gaultier with Tiffany & Co jewelry. Melissa is wearing Zuhair Murad. Jasmin is wearing Givenchy. Jack C is wearing Dolce&Gabbana. Josh is wearing a Luigi Bianchi suit with a Suit Supply turtleneck and Jean Baptiste Rautureau boots. Demi is wearing a Chaira Boni dress with Marli jewelry. Liana is wearing Saint Laurent.

Check out more photos in the gallery from the Scream VI premiere…

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The scariest thing to Jenna Ortega about playing Wednesday Addams was not staying true to the beloved character.

Ortega opened up about the changes she made during production on the viral Netflix series “Wednesday” to keep the teen role grounded in reality.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on a set in the way that I had to on ‘Wednesday,’ because it’s so easy to fall into that category, especially with this type of show,” Ortega said during Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast. (Via Insider.)

The “Scream VI” star admitted, “There were times on that set where I even became unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”

Ortega continued, “Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about this dress that she has to wear for a school dance and she says, ‘Oh my god, I love it! I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ And I had to go, ‘No, there’s no way.'”

Ortega previously recalled in a Netflix Q&A that she was “blown away” by the disconnect between the dialogue and the character. “I felt like we were able to avoid a lot of dialogue in an attempt to make her sound human,” Ortega said in 2022.

On the new “Armchair Expert” episode, Ortega admitted to feeling “very protective” over Wednesday as a whole.

“I grew very, very protective of her, but you can’t lead a story and have no emotional arc because then it’s boring and nobody likes you. And Wednesday is a teenager,” she said. “When you’re little and you say morbid, offensive stuff, it’s funny and endearing and, ‘Aww, you don’t know any better.’ But then you become a teenager, it’s, ‘Now you’re being nasty and you know it.’ There’s less excuse.”

Ortega didn’t leave set in confidence that the series would find an audience.

“I can’t watch my work, but I can go home from set and say, ‘The scene that we shot today felt good,'” Ortega said. “On ‘Wednesday,’ there was not a scene in that show that I went home and was like, ‘OK, that should be fine.'”

However, Ortega has “seen a lot” of the show “against my will” because she had to perform approximately “200 lines of ADR” in post-production. Filming “Wednesday” in Romania also conflicted with Ortega reprising her role on Netflix’s “You,” leaving the actress “devastated.”

Despite Ortega’s critically acclaimed turn as Wednesday and landing Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globe nominations, the “X” star chalks up the series’ success to audiences just being “easy to please.”

“People are shipping out content so fast, and the fact that we actually sat down and spent considerable time on that, I think, naturally would elevate or maybe make a show more appealing to an audience,” Ortega said.

The actress also revealed that she asked executive producer/director Burton to not hire a choreographer for the viral dance sequence because she had “stopped trusting outside opinion” about the character and was “so overwhelmed.”

“Initially, it was supposed to be a flash mob and she was supposed to start dancing and everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her. And that, I vetoed, because why would she be OK with that?” the former Disney Channel star said. “I said, ‘Either cut it or have Wednesday knock someone out, and then it’s done.'”

The dance sequence ultimately felt “very Wednesday” to Ortega due to her creative control over it. Ortega is also serving as an executive producer on Season 2 of the series.

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Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox joined the new generation of scream queens at the premiere of their movie Scream VI!

The ladies walked the red carpet with Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, and more at the NYC premiere on Monday night (March 6) at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York City.

Also in attendance were co-stars Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, and Josh Segarra, as well as Demi Lovato who provided the theme song for the movie.

Courteney was also joined by her daughter Coco!

In Scream VI, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter following the latest Ghostface killings. The movie hits theaters Friday!

FYI: Melissa is wearing a Zuhair Murad dress. Jenna is wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier Couture dress and Tiffany & Co. jewelry. Jasmin is wearing a Givenchy dress and Bulgari jewelry. Jack is wearing Dolce&Gabbana. Josh is wearing a Luigi Bianchi suit, a Suit Supply turtleneck, and Jean Baptiste Rautureau boots. Devyn is wearing Monse.

Browse through the gallery for more photos from the Scream VI premiere…

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Jenna Ortega is going old school to stay grounded.

The “Scream VI” star has filmed back-to-back projects like “Wednesday” and “X,” but Ortega is now looking for a break by way of dated technology.

“There’s a month of this year that I want to take off, and I’ve made it very clear that I’m going to take this month off. I’m going to travel, I just got a flip phone, I’m just going to be hidden for a while,” Ortega said in an Elle cover story. “I have to work things around my schedule to make sure that that month stays open. There’s a part of it that’s stressful because it’s like,’‘Oh my God, can I tell this director that I don’t want to work these two weeks? Can I?’ I don’t know, but I am also making the rules.”

The “Stuck in the Middle” alum previously detailed how “devastated” she was to not return for “You” Season 4 due to conflicting production schedules. Ortega still is grappling with being so in-demand as an actress.

“If I want to make films so badly and I want to play characters or I want to direct and write film scores, I could do that all in my backyard. I don’t have to be doing it on a grand scale like this,” Ortega said. “But ultimately, all the other side stuff that comes with my job, sometimes it makes it feel like it’s almost not worth it. I don’t want to feel like a walking billboard, which is a really, really scary feeling because then you feel less and less in control of your life. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of people or know people who have succumbed to that pressure. I don’t want to belong to anyone or anything.”

Ortega continued, “I’ll see someone on the street, and it’s kind of annoying because I feel like I’m infected. My job [has given me] a virus where I can’t function without picking up on what everyone is doing…I want to live up to people’s expectations, which is something that I need to get over, but I’m also scared that, I don’t know, maybe someone will get to know me too well and realize that I’m not all that.”

The former Disney Channel child star admitted, “The kind words that I hear that they say about me through other people are unbelievable to me. I feel like just the people in my life see me in a way that I don’t really see myself…I am so fearful of disappointing the people in my life, or even people in public.”

In turn, Ortega is selective with projects, denying roles like “being the sidekick who carries the Puerto Rican flag on her shoulder and makes it her entire personality,” according to the actress.

Ortega recently spoke out on why playing characters who are “unintelligent” adolescents is unappealing as it perpetuates unsavory teen stereotypes onscreen.

“I feel like it’s always the ‘bratty teen,’ the ‘bad-mouthed teen,’ or a lot of times ‘unintelligent,’ which I don’t think is true,” Ortega shared. “I think it’s hard, too, nowadays with all this new lingo coming around but I feel like my generation, because there is so much accessible to them on the Internet, there’s just more opportunities for them to learn. I wish they were given a bit more credit. We can be smart sometimes.”

Ortega previously said, “I really see my young generation taking more control of themselves in the industry — whether it’s learning to write sooner, direct sooner, or produce sooner. I think it’s really empowering and important because, right now, teenage voices are still being told in the majority by older white males. The more that happens, we’ll acknowledge that girls are much more than a lame stereotype.”

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Jenna Ortega is opening up about being a teenager on camera.

The 20-year-old Wednesday actress got candid while playing Hot Ones with Sean Evans.

During their conversation over spicy chicken wings, Jenna spoke about Gen Z, stereotypes of teens in film and TV, and how they’re often branded as “unintelligent.”

Keep reading to find out more…

“I think for me, because I look a bit younger, I’ve been acting for a little over a decade now, so I’ve just been a teenager pretty much in stories. I feel like it’s always the ‘bratty teen,’ the ‘bad-mouthed teen,’ or a lot of times ‘unintelligent,’ which I don’t think is true,” she said.

“I think it’s hard too nowadays with all this new lingo coming around but I feel like my generation, because there is so much accessible to them on the Internet, there’s just more opportunities for them to learn. I wish they were given a bit more credit. We can be smart sometimes,” Jenna continued.

Jenna is about to appear in a music superstar’s feature acting debut!

Watch her appearance on Hot Ones…

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Jenna Ortega is convinced Gen Zers are woefully underserved onscreen.

The “Wednesday” star clapped back at the stereotypes of adolescents in film and TV shows, unpacking the assumptions behind particular labels that adolescents are inherently “unintelligent.”

“I think for me, because I look a bit younger, I’ve been acting for a little over a decade now, so I’ve just been a teenager pretty much in stories,” Ortega said during the “Hot Ones” YouTube series. “I feel like it’s always the ‘bratty teen,’ the ‘bad-mouthed teen,’ or a lot of times ‘unintelligent,’ which I don’t think is true.”

The “Scream VI” actress continued, “I think it’s hard, too, nowadays with all this new lingo coming around but I feel like my generation, because there is so much accessible to them on the Internet, there’s just more opportunities for them to learn. I wish they were given a bit more credit. We can be smart sometimes.”

Ortega previously called out the need for younger creatives to take charge, especially when it comes to authentically writing youthful roles onscreen.

“I really see my young generation taking more control of themselves in the industry — whether it’s learning to write sooner, direct sooner, or produce sooner,” Ortega told Who What Wear in October 2022. “I think it’s really empowering and important because, right now, teenage voices are still being told in the majority by older white males.”

The “X” star continued, “The more that happens, we’ll acknowledge that girls are much more than a lame stereotype.”

Ortega especially praised Netflix’s “You” set for being especially “empowering” to her during her Season 2 stint as Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) confidante Ellie.

“My voice was heard and that was very empowering to me because I’ve been on sets where being a young woman of color, I don’t always get a say in what my character is doing or what’s happening on screen, but I was very included on the set and that was really nice,” Ortega told Teen Vogue at the time. “I love it when it can be a collaboration [where] everybody’s working, it’s not just solely one person. It was very freeing as an artist.”

Ortega was supposed to reprise her role in Season 4 of the thriller series but “Wednesday” production got in the way. The star admitted she was “devastated” she could not film both projects simultaneously, but hinted she may be back for Season 5.

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