Jenna Ortega reveals disturbing reason she went all day without food as a child star

Jenna Ortega has revealed the surprising lengths she went to as a young actress to avoid being a “burden” on set, admitting she would sometimes go an entire day without eating or even taking a sip of water.

The Wednesday star, 23, began pursuing acting professionally when she was just seven years old and quickly built up an impressive list of credits, but her determination to prove herself came at the expense of looking after her own needs.

Reflecting on the early years of her career in a candid new interview with Esquire, Jenna admitted that she had been so grateful to be working that she became determined not to inconvenience anyone around her. “I wasn’t asking for one sip of water,” she recalled. “I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody.”

Looking back, Jenna now recognizes that her determination to be the perfect child actor may actually have been one of her biggest early mistakes. “Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself,” she said.

Jenna Ortega as a child actor

Jenna’s admission came after she was asked about the biggest “rookie mistake” she made on her first professional set. Initially, the actress struggled to think of one. “I really had it going for me as a child ’cause I can’t think of one mistake I made,” she said. “Is that a terrible thing to say?”

“I feel like I make mistakes now all the time, but as a child, I was so grateful and so excited to be there that my game face was on.” That intense focus meant Jenna prioritized being professional and unobtrusive over asking for the things she needed, even when that meant going without food and water.

Her comments offer a revealing insight into the pressures she placed on herself while navigating professional sets at an age when most children were focused on school. Jenna’s drive to succeed began remarkably early. The actress told Esquire that she was just seven when she decided she wanted to pursue acting professionally, although her parents initially didn’t take the declaration too seriously.

“My parents laughed at me when I told them that I wanted to do it, and then that was kind of the root of everything,” she explained. Rather than putting her off, their reaction appears to have strengthened her resolve. “The motivation. And I never really stopped, because I’m very stubborn. And then I never questioned it.”

Jenna went on to land a string of roles as a child, with early credits including CSI: NY, Know It All Nina, Richie Rich and Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle. She also appeared in Iron Man 3 before playing the younger version of Jane Villanueva in Jane the Virgin in 2014.

Dakota Fanning inspired Jenna Ortega’s acting career

Jenna also revealed that Dakota Fanning had a significant influence on her when she was growing up. The former child star, who famously began acting at five and became the youngest Screen Actors Guild Award nominee in history following her performance in I Am Sam, provided Jenna with an early example of what acting could look like for a young performer.

Jenna credited Dakota with teaching her “what acting was” when she was a child. However, when asked to dispel one of the stereotypes surrounding former child actors, Jenna gave a characteristically dry response. “Is it wrong to say that a lot of them are true?” she joked. “And do with that what you will.”

Why Jenna Ortega nearly quit acting before You

Despite her fierce determination as a child, Jenna has previously revealed there was a point when she seriously considered walking away from acting altogether.

Speaking on Kid Cudi’s Big Bro podcast in April, she recalled approaching high school and beginning to question whether she wanted to continue with the career she had pursued for much of her childhood.

She remembered thinking: “It was a good run.” Jenna had even discussed leaving acting with her team for several months before one particular job changed her mind.

That project was Netflix’s psychological thriller You, in which Jenna played Ellie Alves opposite Penn Badgley.

“We had talked about it for a few months with my team, and then, I think I booked that show You, and then I went on that set, and I loved it and had the best time,” she explained.

The experience reminded her of what she loved about acting. “I thought, ‘Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go.'”

Jenna Ortega’s career after Wednesday

Jenna’s decision to continue acting proved pivotal. Her role as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday propelled her to international fame, transforming a performer who had been working steadily since childhood into one of Hollywood’s most recognizable young stars.

She has since appeared in films including Scream, Scream VI and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, while also taking on an increasingly significant creative role behind the scenes of Wednesday.

Next, Jenna is set to star in Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun, an adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel. Yet despite everything that has followed, Jenna’s latest comments suggest the intense determination behind her success was there long before Wednesday made her a household name.

As she put it when reflecting on the stubborn seven-year-old who decided she was going to become an actress: “I never really stopped, because I’m very stubborn. And then I never questioned it.”