Jenna Ortega's Evolution From Disney Princess To Scream Queen

Jenna Ortega has undergone a remarkable transformation. She first began doing national commercials as a kid before making the leap into TV, initially scooping up bit parts on network television. Slowly, those roles got bigger and bigger until her first break came with landing young Jane in The CW's "Jane the Virgin." She suddenly had everyone's attention, and she then entered her Disney era with roles in "Elena of Avalor" and "Stuck in the Middle." Eventually, Ortega was ready to break away and do other things, but worried she would be put into only one box. 

"There's a stigma that that's all you could do, or you're just not a serious actor," she told Nylon. "There were multiple times where I was seriously considering quitting and stopping. Nobody tells you this until you get there, but there's an awkward phase in your life where you're going through puberty and there's a two-year span where work is just extra hard to find. I was too old for the young roles and too young for the older roles. It was really frustrating ... you finally have to get that one job that moves the meter."

Her career catapulted into the stratosphere when she found her way into Netflix's soapy drama "You." It seemed that she had finally gotten that break to play a wildly different character, prove herself, and demonstrate she had the determination never to pack it in. Instead, she used the show as a springboard into the next chapter of her career. Needless to say, the roles have kept pouring in over the last few years. Somewhere along the way, she switched over to the horror world and has become a staple in the genre. Here's a deep dive into her most important projects and how she made the transition to becoming today's irrefutable scream queen.

Jenna Ortega first starred as a princess in a 2014 episode of "OMG!," a YouTube video series. In the show, she appears as Princess Sleigha in the episode titled "Derp Vader vs. Princess Sleigha." She not only nails the Princess Leia look but is quite the little spitfire. You could consider this gig as a screen test, as it sets the foundation for what would become one of her early defining roles.

"Elena of Avalor" was first announced in early 2015 with plans for a debut in "Sofia the First" before its spinoff series a year later. It marked Disney's first-ever Latina princess. Ortega's Princess Isabel was first revealed in May 2016. In an interview with Celeb Secrets TV, Ortega described the importance of the character: "When I was growing up, I didn't have a Disney princess that I could relate to and I couldn't see myself as a Disney princess. So, now that young girls have someone they can look up to is something I'm very proud of." "Elena of Avalor" ran for three seasons, and Ortega also starred in two TV specials, "Elena of Avalor: Adventures in Vallestrella" (2017) and "Elena of Avalor: The Magic Within" (2019).

When Disney flew Ortega out to Disney World for a grand opening event, she noticed countless young Latina girls lined up to meet her. She described it as a "surreal" experience, adding how "such a big deal" it was, "especially when we [make] up a majority of audiences."

As far as dramatic performances are concerned, Ortega's turn in "Saving Flora" is one of her most pulverizing. In September 2017, she revealed why she'd been hanging around with elephants so much and described how "incredible" the experience was. She also shared a slew of onset photos, giving a peek into filming in and around Ventura, California. Her co-stars included David Arquette and Martin Martinez. The story follows Dawn (Ortega) and her heroic effort to save an aging elephant named Flora, traveling 100 miles to an animal reserve.

Around the film's 2018 preview at Twin Cities Film Fest, writer-slash-director Mark Taylor gave an interview in which he explained how Ortega's presence made him think differently about the casting. Not only did Ortega bring character definition to the role, but it helped Taylor "define some of the tone of the film," he says, adding that her Latina heritage influenced the casting of the other characters. "It made us shake things up a bit and create a world that was a bit more representative of America."

"Saving Flora" is an acting showpiece many young actors would kill to have. Ortega doesn't take a moment of it for granted, as you can see in her grounded, emotional performance. It might not be her most acclaimed film (the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is an unfortunate 47 percent), but it did give her a chance to really flex her muscles and demonstrate the full breadth of her capabilities. It was only onward and upward from there.

Ortega took the world by storm in 2022. The actor officially joined the "Scream" (2022) cast in August 2022. In the film, Ortega played Tara Carpenter, the younger sister to Melissa Barrera's Sam. A bit of an elevated horror aficionado, Tara commands the screen as much as Sam. On her first day of filming, Ortega shot the opening scene. "I've never played this kind of role in a film that's been released theatrically, so that was nerve-wracking," she shared. "I knew there was a big budget involved ... I didn't want to get fired."

In Ti West's "X" project, Ortega portrayed the mousy Lorraine, who helps her boyfriend RJ (Owen Campbell) on the set of his new adult film. It certainly was quite the departure. On shooting in New Zealand, Ortega described it as "one of my favorite filming experiences" to Complex. Interestingly, Ortega found out she booked the gig while working on "Scream" (2022), according to a Collider interview.

In 2022, Ortega also starred in "American Carnage" (as Camilla, a child of an undocumented immigrant) and the Dave Grohl-produced "Studio 666." A big Foo Fighters fan, Ortega leaped at the chase to play Skye, the first kill of the movie. While working on HBO Max's "The Fallout," she received an email about the role and immediately said yes. Fortunately, the creative team behind "The Fallout" gave her a week off, and she was able to make the "Studio 666" shoot. Talk about perfect timing.

Thankfully, Ortega reprises her role as Tara Carpenter in "Scream VI." Set in New York City, the film raises its stakes and promises to be even more violent than any other entry. Where in "Scream" (2022), Tara spends the majority of the time "crying and screaming on the floor," she told Deadline, she aims to "give her some sort of a personality" in the new film. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she noted that her character begins the film by "avoiding her trauma and desperately trying to reclaim her teenage experience," adding that there will be "tension between her and Sam."

While the official "Scream 6" trailer gives very little away about her character, it shows glimpses of Tara perilously hanging over a building. Could Tara meet a grisly end? Well, for Ortega's sake, we hope not; her character, along with Melissa Barrera's Sam, anchors the new cast in a way Sidney and Gale did in the earlier films.

According to her IMBD page, Ortega's upcoming credits include "Miller's Girl" and the romantic drama "Winter Spring Summer or Fall," alongside Percy Hynes White. Her next foray into horror appears to be crime-slash-thriller "Finestkind," which also stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Foster, and Toby Wallace. It's still early to tell, but we have a hunch 2023 is going to be even bigger and better for Ortega.