Jenna Ortega Reveals How She Nearly Walked Away from Hollywood
‘It Felt Like a Good Time’: Jenna Ortega Reveals How She Nearly Walked Away from Hollywood
LOS ANGELES — Before she was the poker-faced face of a global phenomenon and the undisputed queen of modern horror, Jenna Ortega was ready to hand in her SAG card. In a revealing new interview, the 23-year-old superstar admitted that she came within months of quitting acting forever before a pivotal role in a Netflix thriller changed the trajectory of her life.
Speaking on Kid Cudi’s Big Bro podcast this week, Ortega opened up about the "exhausting" transition from child stardom to adult roles, revealing that the uncertainty of her teenage years nearly led her to choose a "normal life" over the red carpet.
The "Mid-Teen" Crisis
Ortega, who began her career at age 10 with roles in Iron Man 3 and Jane the Virgin, hit a wall after her stint on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle. As she approached high school, she found herself in a "no-man's land" where casting directors struggled to see her as anything other than a child actor.
“I had to prove myself and meet all these new casting directors who didn’t know who I was,” Ortega told Cudi. “It just felt like a good time to call it quits if I was going to. I was starting high school, and it was a ‘it was a good run’ sort of thing. We had talked about it for a few months with my team.”
The actress confessed that she had never really considered another career path, but the constant rejection and the need to "reintroduce" herself to the industry was beginning to take a toll on her mental health.
The ‘You’ Turning Point
The sliding-doors moment arrived when she booked the role of Ellie Alves in the second season of Netflix’s You. Playing the savvy, street-smart neighbour to Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg served as the creative spark she desperately needed.
“I went on that set, and I loved it and had the best time,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go.’”
The Ortega "Reinvention" Timeline
| Period | Major Project | Career State |
| 2016–2018 | Stuck in the Middle | Disney Channel Mainstay |
| Late 2018 | N/A | Contemplated Retirement |
| 2019 | You (Season 2) | The "Adult" Breakthrough |
| 2021 | The Fallout | Critical Darling (Indie) |
| 2022–Present | Wednesday | Global Icon / Producer |
The Cost of the Crown
While Ortega is now one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, she was candid about the darker side of her recent "overnight" success. She admitted that the meteoric rise of Wednesday, and the intense scrutiny that followed, left her feeling "unhappy" and "scared" for a period.
“To be quite frank, after the show and trying to figure everything out, I was an unhappy person,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in a recent reflection. “As somebody who’s quite introverted, that was so intense and so scary.”
Looking Toward the Horizon
Ortega’s decision to stay has certainly paid off for the industry. She is currently preparing for the premiere of her new movie The Gallerist (fresh off a successful Sundance run) and is gearing up for the third season of Wednesday, where she has taken on an expanded role as an executive producer.
Despite the pressure, Ortega seems to have found her voice. Whether she’s clashing with writers over character integrity or advocating for more mature storytelling, the girl who almost quit is now the woman calling the shots.
