LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 13: Jenna Ortega poses in the IMDb exclusive portrait studio at the Critics Choice Association 2nd Annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television at Fairmont Century Plaza on November 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for IMDb)
Movies - TV
Jenna Ortega's Acting Career Was Inspired
By A Denzel Washington Classic
By MIYAKO PLEINES
Jenna Ortega has spent 2022 carving up roles in horror films such as "X" and "Scream,” and she is currently slated to take on the role of Wednesday Addams in the soon-to-be-released Netflix show "Wednesday." Ortega is a driven actress whose star is on the rise and her interest in acting was inspired by a Denzel Washington film.
In an interview with Christina Ricci, Ortega shared, "I remember one time I watched "Man on Fire" with Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington, and when I came home I was like, 'I want to be the Puerto Rican version of this girl.'” “Man on Fire” stars Washington as a washed-up bodyguard
who seeks to rescue Fanning’s
character from kidnappers.
Ortega is glad to have played many different characters in her young career. She went on to tell Ricci, “I also realized that, 'Oh, if I were an actor, I could be the first female president and an astronaut rolled into one.' So I felt like I was getting away with murder in terms of, 'I've tricked everyone into allowing me to be everything.'"