Jenna Ortega’s star power continues on a meteoric rise, with several of her previous projects available to stream on Netflix right now. Ortega has been acting for a sinificant chunk of her life at this point. Despite being born in 2002, her first credited appearance came when she was less than 10 years old in 2012. Then, the following year, Ortega managed to make her theatrical debut in the incredibly popular MCU franchise with a minor role in Iron Man 3.

Since that time, Ortega has progressed from being a small part, to a supporting cast member, and now she is consistently landing leading roles in some of the biggest films and shows around. Ortega has racked up an impressive nearly 50 separate credits over just over 12 years, and her career appears to just be at the beginning, with at least six more projects currently announced to feature Jenna Ortega in the coming years.

The Babysitter: Killer Queen

Jenna Ortega Plays Phobe In The Babysitter: Killer Queen

By 2020, Ortega was already beginning to make a name for herself and beginning to appear in more horror movies. And a pivotal part of that journey was The Babysitter: Killer Queen. This movie is actually a sequel to the original The Babysitter that came out in 2017.

Ortega plays an important role as the mysterious Phoebe. Cole, the protagonist from the first film, and the final boy of the horrors that took place in that movie, meets Phoebe, and they learn that they both had the same occultist babysitter. Ortega delivers a fantastic performance as the deuteragonist, and it’s clear to see her talent and skill in portraying the dark and mysterious character.

Yes Day

Jenna Ortega Plays Katie Torres In Yes Day

One year later, in 2021, Ortega landed one of the leading roles in the movie Yes Day, which also stars Jennifer Garner. The movie follows a dysfunctional family with two loving parents who are often too busy to go along with their kids’ wildest ideas. However, in an effort to make the kids happy, they agree to say yes to all of their ideas for 24 hours.

Ortega plays the oldest sister in the family, and along with her two younger siblings, they take their parents on a wild journey on their “yes day.” Ortega delivers another excellent performance that showcases her ability to deliver comedy and emotion. However, even this movie was not the biggest launching point for Ortega’s career.

Wednesday

Jenna Ortega Plays Wednesday Addams In Wednesday

The most remarkable project that Ortega has been cast in, and coincidentally the one that shattered records on Netflix as the most watched English language show of all time, was Wednesday. This series brings back the popular Addams Family with a particular focus on the daughter, Wednesday Addams. The series was also directed by Tim Burton, whose unique aesthetic style and characters are a perfect fit for the Addams Family.

Ortega perfectly embodies the role of Wednesday, creating a strong and well-defined character which is further enhanced in every single episode. This led to some remarkable viral moments, like the dance scene from the show, and led to more collaboration between Ortega and Burton in the long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel. Season 2 of Wednesday is set to be released some time in 2025.

Jurᴀssic World: Camp Cretaceous

Jenna Ortega Plays Brooklynn In Jurᴀssic World: Camp Cretaceous

Jurᴀssic World: Camp Cretaceous signifies a notable period in Ortega’s career, with the show being released between 2020 and 2022. The show had five seasons, with a total of 50 episodes from start to finish. As an animated series, the show did not feature Ortega physically, though she did provide the voice for Brooklynn, one of the main characters who appears in 48 of the 50 episodes of the show.

In Jurᴀssic World: Camp Cretaceous, Brooklynn starts out as a reclusive and anxious young woman who hides behind her phone addiction. This appears to be a departure from many of Ortega’s other characters from live-action, which generally present her as confident and outgoing. But the character does grow and evolve throughout the series before reappearing in Jurᴀssic World: Chaos Theory, but Ortega did not return to voice the part after the original series.

Richie Rich

Jenna Ortega Plays Darcy In Richie Rich

Richie Rich was a short-lived series that came out on Netflix in 2015. The show was based on a similar concept to the popular 1994 movie starring Macaulay Culkin. However, the show expanded the concept by having Richie Rich move his family into a mansion, and frequently hanging out with his two best friends, Murray and Darcy. Ortega landed the role of Darcy, and appeared in all 21 episodes of the series.

At this stage, Ortega was still early in her acting career, though landing a role in a Netflix series appears to have led to the actress finding many more projects on the platform that would define her career. Darcy was one of the more simplistic characters Ortega tackled, a character who loves spending money and hanging out with friends. It worked well in the show, and shows promise from the young actress.

You

Jenna Ortega Plays Ellie Alves In You

In 2019, Ortega landed a large role in the second season of the hit show, You. When Joe Goldberg moves out of New York to the West Coast in an effort to escape his past, he rents an apartment from a young woman who is the guardian of her teenage sister. Ortega plays the part of said sister, and she delivers a bold, pronounced, and engaging performance as Ellie Alves, an ambitious young girl who wants to make movies.

Ellie isn’t afraid to speak her mind, confront and call out people when they do something wrong, or chase her dreams. However, being a teenager, she still has a lot to learn when it comes to trusting people. Over the course of season 2, Joe does a lot to protect Ellie, but by the series’ end, his involvement in her life has caused significantly more harm than good. And Ortega excels in this role, which likely helped her land leading roles in the years that followed.

Scream VI

Jenna Ortega Plays Tara Carpenter In Scream VI

Finally, the most recent addition to Netflix’s listings is a feature film that was not made or produced by Netflix. While Scream was an extremely popular horror series in the 1990s and 2000s, the popularity of the series waned by the third entry. In an effort to inject fresh blood into the series, the fifth installment cast several new characters to be the stars of the series. Among them, Jenna Ortega landed a primary role, and established herself as one of the Scream Queens.

While her role in Scream (2022) was less pronounced, Ortega was given a noticeably larger part in the sequel, Scream VI, due to her popularity in Wednesday. The 2023 movie managed to have a sharp increase in box office earnings, almost reaching similar numbers to the original films (via The Numbers). Now, this chapter of the Scream franchise is available to stream on Netflix, allowing Jenna Ortega fans to celebrate yet another project from the rising star.