Only 22 years old, Jenna Ortega already has over 50 film and TV roles on her CV.
The really big breakthrough came last year with the title role in the horror comedy series "Wednesday". It was such a success that season two is now here - and it's already clear that there will be a third season.
It feels almost like we started this season from scratch, like we're starting over, says Jenna Ortega to TT.
The Addams Family
"Wednesday" is a spinoff of the story about the Addams Family. It was first a comic strip, created by Charles Addams in 1964, whose black humor made it very popular. The series was about the odd Addams Family: parents Gomez and Morticia, children Wednesday and Pugsley, uncle Fester and servant Lurch. A normal American family if you ignored that everyone had a connection to the monster world.
It became a black and white TV series, a number of feature films, a musical and now the TV series "Wednesday", where the daughter has started at Nevermore College.
I had seen the movies before, and when I got the role, I checked out the comic strip and the old TV series. I wanted to see if there was anything I could learn and if there was anything I could do differently, says Jenna Ortega.
"React too much"
The role of Wednesday requires her to constantly have a serious face. Does she never risk bursting out laughing?
No, her way of walking and standing is so special that it helps. Sometimes I may react too much, for example, raise an eyebrow. Then we have to take it again.
For being a youth series, "Wednesday" is relatively bloody and scary - there's a scene with a zombie in episode three of season two that's pretty brutal. Jenna Ortega laughs.
Still, not everything makes it. Sometimes a scene is too bloody for the program.
"Like horror"
She likes horror, in recent years we've been able to see her in "X", "Scream", "The death of a unicorn" and "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" at the cinema.
Yes, many of them came almost at the same time. It was a coincidence. But I like horror.
Behind "Wednesday" is director Tim Burton. It's his idea and he has directed several of the episodes.
He's the best. He's so funny and he's calm and relaxed. It can get stressful on a recording, but he would never let the external pressure affect us actors, says Jenna Ortega.
Gunnar Rehlin/TT
Facts: Jenna Ortega
TT
Age: 22 years.
Resides: In Los Angeles.
Occupation: Actor.
Previous roles, selection: "Iron Man 3", "Where the garden ends", "You", "Scream", "X", "Wednesday", "Scream VI", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", "Death of a unicorn". Current with: "Wednesday 2" which premieres on Netflix on August 6.
