Jenna Ortega shares sweet childhood memory with mom that shaped her acting career

Jenna Ortega has spent over a decade in the spotlight, but the roots of her craft trace back to a sweet moment with her mom, Natalie Ortega. Long before she became a scream queen and experimented with goth and glamorous looks, the star discovered the transformative power of makeup, and with it, a sense of confidence that would guide her successful career.

“My first experience with makeup was when I really wanted to become an actor and I was doing headshots,” Jenna told Elle. “You would do them in different characters, so we did a nerdy one and a rebel one, and then we wanted to do a popular girl one. My mum pulled me to the bathroom and she gave me her burgundy lip liner and a little bit of mascara."

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She continued, "I had watched her get ready all my life, and then for her to be passing it down to me, it felt like such an honour. I carried myself differently instantly." Jenna added, "I was so proud of this makeup that I had on, and I was so excited to be more like my mum. That was really special to me.”

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That intimate exchange went beyond cosmetics. It was a lesson in transformation and self-expression, a first taste of the way an actor could step into someone else’s skin, or in her words, disappear into a character.

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“When you’re trying to turn into somebody else and experience somebody else’s life, or you want to feel yourself disappear, makeup is almost just as important as their outfit,” she explained to the publication. “That’s helpful when you want your characters to stand out and have their own personalities."

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Jenna explained, "Makeup is about representation, and everybody represents themselves differently. Once you realise that, you begin to understand a lot more about the character.”

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Jenna’s early introduction to acting came quickly. Growing up in California’s Coachella Valley as the fourth of six children, she caught the attention of an agent after her mom shared a video of her performing online. 

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She landed her first gig at age nine, playing a background role in a local commercial. From there, her career took off, moving from scary films like 'Insidious: Chapter 2' to Disney Channel’s 'Stuck in the Middle,' and eventually into darker, more complex roles that highlighted her range, including 'X,' 'Scream,' and more.