Jenna Ortega isn’t sugarcoating her experience playing Wednesday Addams, and honestly, she shouldn’t have to.
The 22-year-old actress, now one of Netflix’s biggest stars thanks to Wednesday, says her character’s iconic schoolgirl outfit isn’t just a costume, it’s a reminder of how difficult it is to be taken seriously in the entertainment industry when you’re a young woman. Especially a short one.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Jenna Ortega got real about how frustrating it is to be boxed into roles that feel juvenile. “It’s always been really annoying, because you just don’t feel like you’re being taken seriously,” she said. “You know, it’s like how you’re dressed in the schoolgirl costume… There’s just something about it that’s very patronizing.” It’s not just about the outfit, though. “Also, when you’re short, people are already physically looking down on you,” she added.
The struggle goes beyond fashion. Ortega pointed out that Wednesday puts her in a weird position, playing a schoolgirl in a series she’ll be tied to for years while also trying to grow as a woman and be viewed as more than just the creepy-cute teen. “I’m doing a show I’m going to be doing for years where I play a schoolgirl. But I’m also a young woman,” she explained. That identity conflict has become a central issue in how she’s perceived on and off screen.
It’s not her first time dealing with Hollywood’s double standards. Ortega’s been in the public eye since she was a kid on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle, which ran for four years and wrapped in 2018. Since then, she’s taken on darker, more complex roles in shows like You and horror hits like X and Scream. Her upcoming films include Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Death of a Unicorn, a far cry from the bubbly Disney persona she once had to maintain.
Jenna’s also not afraid to call out how the industry treats young girls differently from boys. “Girls, if they don’t stay as this perfect image of how they were first introduced to you, then it’s ‘Ah, something’s wrong. She’s changed. She sold her soul’,” she said. “But you’re watching these women at the most pivotal times in their lives; they’re experimenting because that’s what you do.” That pressure to stay frozen in time is one of the most toxic things about growing up in the spotlight, and Jenna is actively pushing back against it.
And yeah, her tastes have changed. She admitted that she’s always had a fascination with dark things, but now she’s leaning into it more. “I definitely feel like I have a bit more Gothic taste than I did when I was a teenager,” she said. Back then, being a Disney kid meant being all smiles, sunshine, and sweetness. “I’ve always been into dark things or been fascinated by them, but I was a Disney kid, and the whole thing is being bubbly and kind and overly sweet.”
Now, as she takes on grittier projects and speaks up about the industry’s expectations, Jenna Ortega is reshaping her image on her own terms. The Wednesday costume may be a hit with fans, but for Jenna, it symbolizes a deeper frustration, one shared by a lot of young women trying to shed the image the world placed on them years ago.
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