Jenna Marie Ortega is an actress who portrayed Tara Carpenter in the Scream franchise. She appeared in Scream (2022 film) and Scream VI (2023 film) respectively.
Prior to her role on Scream, she was known for her roles in The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020), You (2018), Elena of Avalor (2016) and Jane the Virgin (2014).
Biography
Jenna Marie Ortega was born on September 27, 2002, in Palm Desert, California in the Coachella Valley.
Daughter of mixed Mexican and Puerto Rican parents, Ortega makes it very clear to her audience that she is proud of her heritage and grateful for having the opportunity to share her culture with the world. Jenna began acting at the age of nine. In a 2016 PopSugar interview, Jenna conveys that succeeding in the American film industry as a Latina was an uphill battle, throttled by subjective casting and strict ethnic guidelines followed in the early 2000s. Despite this difficulty, Ortega did not let cultural barriers and prejudice hinder her progress as a rising star.
Ortega is known not only for her stellar performance in multiple Disney productions but for her roles in many award-winning movies and television series', such as her portrayal of Young Jane in The CW Television Network's iconic comedy-drama "Jane the Virgin," and Darcy in the 2015 Netflix sitcom, "Richie Rich." Restless in her profession, Jenna is accountable for more than 15 television staples and blockbuster films to date, commonly accepting lead roles.
In 2018, Ortega starred in the film "Saving Flora" as the lead role of Dawn, the daughter of a circus owner. The film was critically acclaimed, and for her performance, she received an award nomination at the Southampton International Film Festival. In January 2019, Ortega had been cast in the main role of Ellie Alves, the sister of Delilah Alves (portrayed by Carmela Zumbado, who starred as Deputy Haverland in Season 1), on the second season of the Netflix thriller series "You", which was released on December 26, 2019. In You, her character is a smart and meddling girl who likes to act older than her true age. The season, alike to the show's first season, was well received.
Ortega will next star in a main role on the upcoming-comedy movie Yes Day, slated for release in 2020. In October 2019, she was cast in a role on the upcoming Netflix horror film The Babysitter: Killer Queen, set for release on September 10, 2020.
In February 2020, it was announced that she will lead the upcoming HBO Max-high-school drama film The Fallout, starring alongside Maddie Ziegler, which was released on January 27th, 2022, released just a few weeks after her role in the fifth film. In July 2020, Ortega joined the cast of the upcoming thriller film Songbird directed by Adam Mason. She will also voice Brooklyn in the upcoming Netflix animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
In August 2020, Ortega was cast in an undisclosed role on Scream (2022), later revealed to be Tara Carpenter, whose role she reprised in Scream VI (2023). Following the fifth film, she went on to star in various other roles, most notably Ti West's slasher X (2022), and the Foo Fighters led horror film Studio 666 (2022). In November 2022, she would go on to portray the titular Wednesday Addams in the 2022 Netflix series, Wednesday, released that same month, created by Tim Burton, based on the Addams Family, for which she received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance, who had been casted for the role back in May 2021 and who she's stated to be a "new chapter" in her career.[2]
She also starred in the thriller, Miller's Girl (2024), alongside Martin Freeman, and recently, in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), a direct sequel to the 1988 American film, Beetlejuice, also directed by Tim Burton.
In November 2023, it was revealed that Jenna will not be returning to her role in Scream 7, reportedly due to a scheduling conflict with the second season of Wednesday.[2]