Jenna Ortega Shares She Almost Gave Up Acting Before ‘You’ Role: ‘Felt Like a Good Time to Call It Quits’ | Video
Jenna Ortega confessed she almost walked away from acting before landing her starring role on Season 2 of Netflix’s “You.”
The actress, who went on to have her breakout role in another Netflix series, the critically-acclaimed “Wednesday,” recalled the big life decision she faced after finishing up her run on Disney Channel’s “Stuck in the Middle” in 2018.
“When I was a teenager, I’d gotten off a children’s show, and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she shared on Kid Cudi’s “Big Bro” podcast. “I had to prove myself and meet all these new casting directors who didn’t know who I was.”
She continued: “It just felt like a good time to call it quits if I was going to. I was starting high school, and, ‘it was a good run’ sort of thing. We had talked about it for a few months with my team.”
However, as Ortega explained to Kid Cudi, not long after this crossroads moment, she booked her role as Ellie Alves on the second season of the Penn Badgley-led drama “You.”
“And then I went on that set and I loved it and had the best time,” she added. “I thought, ‘Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go.'”
In fact, Ortega even admitted that she “never really considered [doing] anything else.” Watch her comments below.
Jenna Ortega reveals she nearly quit acting before booking the TV show ‘You’
— Big Bro with Kid Cudi (@bigbrocudi) April 8, 2026
"It felt like a good time to call it quits. I was starting high school, it was a good run … Then I booked, the show 'You' & I was like, 'There's no way I could let this go.'" pic.twitter.com/jMxwM1Kit7
In the seven years since Ortega appeared on “You,” she has emerged as the Gen Z “Scream Queen,” landing leading roles in the “Scream” franchise, “The Babysitter: Killer Queen,” “X” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
Yet, she’s become best known for portraying the macabre-obsessed Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s supernatural comedy, which also stars Emma Myers, Joy Sunday and Gwendoline Christie.
“Wednesday” Season 3 officially entered production back in February.
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