Jenna Ortega, the lead cast of Netflix's Wednesday, is White Hispanic/Latin when it comes to her race. American by nationality, the 20-year-old was born in Coachella, California, to a Mexican father and a Half-Puerto Rican & Half-Mexican Mother.
Wednesday on Netflix transports viewers to the world of the Addams Family, a sprawling franchise based on the works of American cartoonist Charles Addams. As the characters were depicted in other media over time, they were fleshed out and additional traits were added or omitted. That tradition has been continued in the Netflix series, which focuses on only one member of the family: Wednesday Addams played by Jenna Ortega.
However, Jenna Ortega's role as Wednesday on the Netflix series isn't the first major project she's been linked to since beginning her career. Many people will recognize her from the adorable Disney Channel show Stuck in the Middle or Season 2 of You. She recently wowed audiences in Scream 5.
Jenna's blossoming career at the tender age of 20 has attracted the attention of fans who want to learn more about her family life. What are her parents' names? What is her ethnic background? Is she white? Let's find it out together.
Don't Miss: Jenna Ortega's phone number, and Sexuality.
Yes, Jenna Ortega is a White Hispanic/Latin: The Wednesday Cast Was Born in Coachella, California to a Mexican Father and a Half-Puerto Rican & Half-Mexican Mother!
Jenna Ortega (@jennaortega) is an American actress born on September 27, 2002, in Coachella, California to her parents Natalie and Edward Ortega. However, her father was of Mexican ancestry and her mother was half Puerto Rican and half Mexican (with roots in Sinaloa) which makes her White Hispanic/Latin.
Jenna’s paternal grandfather was Anthony Larriva "Tony" Ortega (the son of José Mara "Joe" Ortega López and Josephine Larriva). Anthony was born in Indio, California. José was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, the son of Catarino Ortega Olvera of Villanueva, Zacatecas, and Eduarda López of Aguascalientes, Mexico.
Likewise, she described herself as 75 percent Mexican and 25 percent Puerto Rican in an interview for PopSugar, as her parents are from those countries. She also stated,
Being Latina has always been really, really lovely for me. It’s something that I’m very proud of. I grew up in a community surrounded by all kinds of Hispanics, which was really wonderful because I never grew up with any sort of shame or any sort of fear of my culture.
Jenna Ortega also mentioned that she always got really excited when she got those jobs that were open to ethnicity or maybe originally meant for a Caucasian actor because she wanted to open the doors for as many Latin people as possible, just because "we're a beautiful community and we deserve to be celebrated."
Ortega had been interested in acting since he was six years old. She began receiving auditions at the age of eight, with the help of her mother and agents, and soon made her acting debut in 2012, with a guest appearance for Rob in the episode Baby Bug.
In 2013, she made her film debut as the vice president's daughter in the superhero film Iron Man 3. Following that, Ortega appeared as Annie, a supporting character, in the horror film Insidious: Chapter 2, the second installment in the Insidious franchise. Both films were box office successes.
Ortega was cast in the role of Zoe Leon on Rake in 2014, and from 2014 to 2019, she played the recurring younger version of Jane on Jane the Virgin. She also appeared as Mary Ann in the 2014 direct-to-video comedy film The Little Rascals Save the Day.
From 2016 to 2018, Jenna Ortega starred as Harley Diaz, the middle child of seven Diaz siblings and an aspiring inventor, in the Disney Channel sitcom Stuck in the Middle. The show was well received, and Ortega was nominated for two Imagen Awards for her performance. In the same year, she joined the cast of Disney's Elena of Avalor as the voice of Princess Isabel, a role she held until 2020.
In 2018, Ortega played Dawn, the daughter of a circus owner, in the film Saving Flora. The film was well-received by critics, and Ortega was praised for her performance. Ortega was also cast as Pheobe in Netflix's horror film The Babysitter: Killer Queen in 2019.
Likewise, she also appeared in the high-school drama film The Fallout, in which Ortega played the lead role of Vada, which was released in March 2021; it was released on HBO Max on January 27, 2022. It was well received by critics, and Ortega's performance was praised, with several critics dubbing it her breakout film role.
Recently, Ortega played Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton's supernatural series Wednesday (2022), which she described as a new chapter in her career, stating that she hopes to do Wednesday Addams justice. Ortega underwent the most physical transformation to prepare for the role.
Later, the Wednesday cast later described the production of season one as the most difficult job she had ever had, and she described being in a constant state of confusion and stress over the series and the character's direction. Jenna Ortega's performance in the series received widespread praise, with some critics hailing it as the best portrayal of the character yet. In December 2022, she was named Performer of the Week by TVLine.
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