Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega Reveals Creepy Real Life Hobby

Jenna Ortega confesses that she used to perform autopsies on animal corpses for fun.

By Mark McKee | Published

jenna ortega

Jenna Ortega may be the talk of the town right now because of her newest project as Wednesday Adams in the Netflix comedy series, Wednesday, but her spin on the character goes much deeper. In fact, according to an Entertainment Online report, she may not be simply playing Wednesday Adams on the Netflix series; she may actually be the young goth legend in real-life. In the article, she explains that when she was a child, she would perform autopsies on small animal corpses she came across. 

According to Jenna Ortega herself, she is a self-proclaimed weirdo who feels a genuine connection with Maddie Ziegler of Dance Moms due to their fellow weirdness. She claims the two of them were fast friends when they met because she is weird for making faces and breaks out into character at random times. While the Scream actress confesses her weirdness comes from performing on-the-spot autopsies of small animals, like lizards, that she would find as a little girl. 

The Wednesday star also admitted that even her co-stars couldn’t escape her weirdness, as Christina Ricci was also exposed to the oddities of her personality. In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote the new series, she explained that she has a very dark sense of humor and would crack extremely dark jokes on set. Ricci, who played the young Wednesday in the nineties, was apparently really sweet about the whole thing, just remarking that the jokes were dark; but for Jenna Ortega, they were some of the most awkward moments of her career. 

The self-professed weird actress got her start as a child, playing a young version of Jane (Gina Rodriguez) on Jane the Virgin. She also won an Image Award for her role as Harley Diaz on the Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle series. That wasn’t her only role on the Disney Channel as she additionally provided her voice for Princess Isabel on Elena of Avalor from 2016 to 2020.

jenna ortega
Jenna Ortega in You

In 2019, Jenna Ortega made the jump from child actor to the mainstream when she landed the role of Ellie Alves on the second season of the Netflix thriller series You. She starred opposite Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti, who she praised as eloquent and talented. The series’ second season was largely praised for her performance as the intelligent and meddling girl who acts older than she is and gets in over her head. 

Her other roles in recent years included Phoebe in the Netflix horror film, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, Tara Carpenter in the Scream sequel, and Vada in another Netflix film, The Fallout. With the recent influx of roles in horror thrillers and her newest role as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, the young Jenna Ortega could be setting herself up as one of the latest members of the Scream Queen club. And with the actress’ former affinity for performing autopsies on small animals, she may be the perfect fit for the group.