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Jenna Ortega, the star of Netflix's Wednesday, recently revealed on Kid Cudi's Big Bro podcast that she nearly walked away from acting before landing her breakout role on You.
The 23-year-old actress, who first rose to fame on Disney Channel's Stuck in the Middle, said she was at a crossroads when the show ended. "I'd gotten off of a children's show and I didn't know what I was going to do," Ortega said. "I had to prove myself and meet all these new casting directors who didn't know who I was, and it just felt like a good time to call it quits if I was going to."
At the time, she considered focusing on high school and a more normal life. But then came the role of Ellie Alves on Netflix's thriller You, which changed her mind. "I went on that set and I loved it and had the best time," she said. "I thought, 'Yeah, there's no way I could let this go.'"
Ortega, who started acting at age 10, admitted that the idea of quitting is understandable. "It's a really easy thought to have. There's so much that comes with the job that no one can really prepare you for," she said. Acting, she explained, is unpredictable, with periods of work followed by months without projects.
During her first significant break in years, Ortega found herself struggling to fill her time. "Now I'm cooking again," she said. "I didn't like the paint on my kitchen cabinet so I've been painting my kitchen myself." The pause, while scary at first, turned out to be "necessary," she added. "I feel so much better. I learned so much about what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy. And I know how to entertain myself real well now."
Since then, Ortega has become a Gen Z scream queen, starring in The Babysitter: Killer Queen, X, and the Scream franchise, as well as Netflix's Wednesday. Despite the challenges, she says the journey has been worth it and she's grateful she didn't walk away.
