- Jenna Ortega is an American actress
- She has had many starring roles in Wednesday, Scream and The Fallout
- The 22-year-old has delivered some impressive performances, but which are her best?
Jenna Ortega is one of Hollywood’s hot young stars and has the career resume to prove it. Since starring in Netflix’s Wednesday in 2022, she has added some impressive acting credits to her name. In two Scream movies she played Tara Carpenter, the actress played Astrid Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and is starring in the upcoming film Death of a Unicorn.
Read More: The first reactions to Death Of A Unicorn are in
Some fans may recognize Ortega from earlier roles as a child actress. She starred in the Disney show Stuck in the Middle from 2016 to 2018 and starred in season 2 of You as Ellie Alves. Ortega even played young Jane for several years on Jane The Virgin! Her acting career has thrived and continues to grow. The 22-year-old has five upcoming projects and is not slowing down!
With a promising acting career ahead, let’s reflect on Ortega’s previous performances and rank her best ones.
What are Jenna Ortega’s best performances?
1. Vada Cavell in The Fallout (2021)
Without a doubt, The Fallout is Ortega’s best performance of her career so far. She’s been great in comedic roles and horror slashers but delivers a raw performance in this movie. The Fallout is a film about the emotional aftermath of a school shooting. Ortega plays Vada Cavell, a girl who is traumatized after she finds herself in the middle of a school shooting. In the school bathroom, she hides and befriends Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler), and the two bond over shared trauma.
The Hollywood Reporter said the actress delivered a “beautifully nuanced turn” in her performance as Vada. Additionally, other critics praised Ortega’s emotional range and ability to go numb as Vada’s world is turned upside down.
After the shooting, she is never the same and misses that innocence and carefree attitude she had before. It is also an interesting performance for Ortega since there is a romantic connection between Mia and Vada. Seeing Ortega deliver a stellar and convincing performance as a lovestruck yet broken teenage girl with a crush is endearing, to say the least.
2. Wednesday Addams in Wednesday (2022)
Perhaps her breakout role, Ortega’s performance as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix show is nothing short of phenomenal. To take on a character as iconic as Wednesday Addams which dates back to 1944 is no small feat. In particular, this character has been played by six other actresses, so she’s not exactly original.
Ortega has completely reinvented Wednesday into a sarcastic, deadpan teenage girl who feels emotionless but has hidden depth. She begins the show as a loner focused on solving a murder mystery and ends season one with two love interests and a best friend. The portrayal by Ortega balances dark humor with sarcasm vulnerability and kindness, making Wednesday feel three-dimensional and convincing.
For her performance on Wednesday, she was nominated for A Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2024. That tells you all you need to know!
Also, how can anyone forget her deadpan dancing to Goo Goo Muck at the school dance? That will go in the history books for her career.
3. Tara Carpenter in Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023)
Everyone loves a good final girl, that is what Tara Carpenter could’ve been. Listen, she is no Sidney Prescott, but Ortega proved she has the acting chops for the slasher series. The Scream franchise has a long legacy that dates back to the mid-nineties. Joining the franchise as a new actress is hard enough, but nailing the performance is harder, yet she does that.
Tara Carpenter takes on the cold open and finds a dead body, which Ortega plays convincingly in a chilling scene. Furthermore, Ortega’s ability to do fight and attack scenes is believable and makes a change from the helpless women who often fall victim to the horror of the slasher genre. Her performance was so good that they brought her back for a second movie the following year. Although she is not returning for Scream 7, set to come out in 2026, fans are dying for her return.
4. Ellie Alves in You season 2 (2019)
You may be shocked to see Ellie Alves on this list as it was one of Ortega’s guest roles, but she outshone her co-stars. The Quinns were supposed to be the big stars of season 2, yet fans adored Ortega as Ellie. She provides a much-needed humbling of Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) with a dry and bratty attitude. Ortega plays a typical teenager well, a role she played at around 16.
Up until this point, Ortega had played likable and quirky characters, Ellie is different from that. She is rebellious and wants to grow up too fast and Ortega plays that petulance well. She brought charisma to the role as a teenager who otherwise may’ve been put in the show to make Joe look good – like Pedro was in season 1.
The Wednesday star also brought a level of emotional vulnerability to the character. Ellie is in denial she was assaulted by an older man and plays it down for many episodes.
Ortega also shows a chilling and heartbreaking level of anger in her performance when Ellie learns her sister Delilah (Carmela Zumbado) is dead because of Joe. Fans loved Ellie so much, they’ve begged Netflix to bring Ortega for You season 5.
5. Astrid Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
One of her more eccentric characters, Ortega plays Astrid Deetz incredibly. She fits right into the Tim Burton horror project Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and you know she is Lydia Deetz’s (Winona Ryder) daughter. From playing a supernatural being herself to being fascinated by that world, you’d believe that Astrid has a strange curiosity for the unknown.
Her experience playing Wednesday is evident in her role as Astrid as she brings a rebellious twist to a character who does not want to live normally. Ortega makes it believable that Astrid is still a teenager despite being “weird”. The girl may be different, but she thrives on the discoveries of the afterlife and the other world. It’s ironic and hilarious that everything Lydia tried to do comes undone with her daughter. Plus the chemistry between Ryder and Ortega as mother and daughter is electrifying. The two are mirrors for each other in films that were made 34 years a part!
6. Cairo Sweet in Miller’s Girl (2024)
Miller’s Girl is a strange movie, there’s no doubt about it. The film is about a creative writing teacher Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman) who develops a complicated relationship with his student Cairo Sweet (Ortega). Ortega delivers a beautifully layered performance in this movie.
On one hand, Cairo is a sweet girl who is technically being manipulated by a person in a position of power. However, some scenes suggest that Cairo knows exactly what she is doing. When Jonathan says he will fail her, Cairo threatens him in a chilling moment where Ortega says, “I dare you.” Her performance here indicates Cairo is wise beyond her years at 18 and she knows her seduction and charm could ruin this man’s life.
Ortega’s body language provides ambiguity in the character of Cairo. The audience is guessing what she may do next. They don’t know, but they are waiting with bated breath to find out.
