Jenna Ortega

Jenna Marie Ortega was born September 27, 2002, in Coachella, California. She is an American actor who began working professionally as a child performer and later became internationally recognized for playing Wednesday Addams in Netflix's Wednesday.

Ortega made early television appearances on Rob and Jane the Virgin, appearing as young Jane in the CW comedy-drama. She also played Harley Diaz on Disney Channel's Stuck in the Middle, a series about a middle child managing life in a large family. Her film work during this period included Insidious: Chapter 2, where she played Annie, and The Fallout, a high-school drama that premiered at South by Southwest and earned her recognition for a restrained performance as Vada Cavell.

In 2022, Ortega took the title role in Wednesday, directed in several episodes by Tim Burton. The series follows Wednesday Addams at Nevermore Academy, where she investigates a mystery involving her school and the town of Jericho. Ortega's performance combined deadpan delivery with the character's distinctive physicality, including a choreographed dance at the Rave'N Dance that became widely associated with the show. Her portrayal received a Golden Globe nomination and an Emmy nomination, and Wednesday became one of Netflix's most watched English-language series.

Ortega also appeared in the fifth and sixth installments of the Scream franchise. In Scream (2022), she played Tara Carpenter, a teenager whose attack by Ghostface begins the story. She returned in Scream VI (2023), in which Tara and other survivors travel to New York City and face a new series of killings. Her work in Scream helped establish her as a prominent performer in contemporary horror.

Among her other projects, Ortega starred in the Netflix film The Babysitter: Killer Queen and played Ellie Alves in the second season of the thriller series You. She has also worked as a producer on Wednesday and served as an executive producer on the film The Fallout. In 2023, she published a memoir titled It's All Love: Reflections for Your Heart & Soul, written with her mother, Natalie Ortega.

Ortega has spoken publicly about representation and mental health, and she has used her platform to discuss the importance of authentic Latin American representation in entertainment. Her career includes television, studio films, independent drama, and horror, but Wednesday remains the role most closely associated with her public profile. Her career continues to connect mainstream streaming success with demanding character-driven roles across genres.