Jenna Ortega has opened up about the extreme lengths she went to as a child actor to avoid becoming a burden on set, revealing that she would sometimes go an entire day without asking for food or water, writes Variety.
Speaking to Esquire, the Wednesday star reflected on her early years in the industry and said she was determined to make sure she never got in anyone’s way.
“I really had it going for me as a child ’cause I can’t think of one mistake I made,” Ortega said.
“I feel like I make mistakes now all the time, but as a child, I was so grateful and so excited to be there that my game face was on.”
For Ortega, maintaining that “game face” also meant suppressing her basic needs while working.
“I wasn’t asking for a sip of water,” she recalled. “I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody.”
Looking back, the actress now recognises that her determination to appear professional may have come at the expense of her own wellbeing.
“Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself,” she said.
Ortega began her acting career at a young age, landing television roles before becoming a household name with Netflix’s Wednesday.
Her early credits include Richie Rich, Jane the Virgin, You and Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle, which premiered in 2016 when she was 13.
Speaking about the stigma surrounding child stars, Ortega offered a candid assessment.
“Is it wrong to say that a lot of them are true? And do with that what you will,” she said.
The actress also recalled how her career began. She was just seven when she told her parents that she wanted to become an actor.
“My parents laughed at me when I told them that I wanted to do it, and then that was kind of the root of everything. The motivation,” Ortega said.
She added that she never stopped pursuing acting because of her determination.
“And I never really stopped, because I’m very stubborn. And then I never questioned it.”
