The Netflix star noted that playing a teenager as an adult has some major downsides, particularly related to her character’s style

Jenna Ortega on April 1, 2025 in Las Vegas (left); Jenna Ortega in ‘Wednesday’.Credit : 

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty; Jonathan Hession/Netflix

Jenna Ortega says playing a well-known character like Wednesday Addams has its downsides.

The actress, 22, spoke about the success of Netflix’s Wednesday in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar published on Thursday, May 29, sharing that while some parts of taking on the iconic role have been amazing and influential — including Wednesday’s style preferences — there have still been some negatives regarding public perception.

“I definitely feel like I have a bit more Gothic taste than I did when I was a teenager,” she told the outlet, opening up about how her taste has changed since she began starring in Wednesday. “I’ve always been into dark things or been fascinated by them, but I was a Disney kid, and the whole thing is being bubbly and kind and overly sweet.”

According to Ortega, she has also picked up a few skills from her character, including playing the cello, the synth, and learning how to fence. But she told Harper’s Bazaar that the infantilization that comes with being an adult actress playing a teenager is one of the more difficult aspects of Wednesday.

“I’m doing a show I’m going to be doing for years where I play a schoolgirl,” she added. “But I’m also a young woman.”

Jenna Ortega in ‘Wednesday’.Vlad Cioplea/Netflix

Elsewhere in the report, Ortega’s co-star in the upcoming movie The Gallerist and former child star herself Natalie Portman also spoke about feeling infantilized as an actress, especially considering her height.

“We’re both physically tiny, so people will often treat you like a child forever,” Portman said. “I’m 43 now, and people kind of pat me on the head. I don’t look like a child, but I often feel like I’m treated like a kid.”

“Child actors often cultivate a serious persona because otherwise they’ll get treated like kids forever,” Portman added to the outlet. “When you start working as a kid, you kind of always feel like a kid in the workplace. Having some of that seriousness helps remind people, ‘I’m a grown-up.’ “

Ortega added that she related to the star’s comments “immensely.”

“It’s always been really annoying, because you just don’t feel like you’re being taken seriously,” Ortega continued. “You know, it’s like how you’re dressed in the schoolgirl costume … There’s just something about it that’s very patronizing. Also, when you’re short, people are already physically looking down on you.”

During her conversation with Harper’s Bazaar, Ortega also shared that she felt even worse soon after the first season of Wednesday was released. 

“To be quite frank, after the show and trying to figure everything out, I was an unhappy person,” she shared. “After the pressure, the attention — as somebody who’s quite introverted, that was so intense and so scary.”

According to the actress, becoming a producer on the Netflix series has helped immensely, and so has the show’s production moving from Bucharest to Dublin.

“Season 2 is bigger, bolder, gorier, and a bit darker,” she said of the upcoming season of Wednesday. “It’s sillier in the best way possible.”

“Dublin was incredible,” she added. “I loved everything about that experience, the cast, the crew. It was so sweet and so awesome. That island is so beautiful.”

In another recent interview, Ortega also spoke with her Hurry Up Tomorrow co-star  The Weeknd, 35, for an interview with V Magazine. During the chat, the musician asked her if she ever misses the “anonymity” she had in the early days of her career.

“Oh, most definitely,” Ortega said, before explaining that starring as the titular character in Netflix’s Wednesday was the changing factor. “I mean, that was just a few years ago. I’d done some shows and was working in film, but it wasn’t until that show, the day of the week [Wednesday], that just catapulted everything.”