Jenna Ortega Critiques Hollywood's Fixation on Unrealistic Beauty Standards

Jenna Ortega has candidly revealed the harsh realities of growing up as a child actor in the entertainment industry.

In her conversation with Harper’s Bazaar, Ortega expressed her difficulties securing traditional roles due to not meeting the stringent beauty norms of Hollywood.

"As a child actor, there are two jobs that you can get: you’re either the younger version of someone or you’re playing somebody’s daughter — and there were just not many leading Hispanic actors who I could be that for," she explained.

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Now at 21, Ortega has accumulated an impressive portfolio, starting with her role in the 2012 television sitcom Rob.

Her film debut at the tender age of 11 was as the vice president’s daughter in Iron Man 3, which was followed by appearances in Insidious: Chapter 2, Scream VI, and other acclaimed projects.

Her most recent notable endeavor is as Wednesday Adams in Wednesday, a supernatural comedy horror coming-of-age series created by Netflix.

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Despite her success, Ortega confided to Harper’s Bazaar her belief that she had to work harder due to not "looking a certain way."

"A lot of the jobs that I was going for growing up would never work out," she recounted. "That was really hard, to hear that something you couldn’t change was what was preventing you [from succeeding]."

She acknowledged how this had negatively affected her mental health but also recognized how embracing her true self transformed into a stronger example for others.

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"I thought, 'I don’t want other young girls to look up at the screen and feel like they have to change their appearance to be deemed beautiful or worthy’," she declared.

Looking ahead, Ortega is set to appear as Lydia Deetz’s daughter in the eagerly-awaited Beetlejuice 2 by Tim Burton, which is expected to premiere on 6 September 2024.