Jenna Ortega Opens Up About Growing Up In Hollywood

While Jenna Ortega found fame early as a baby actor, she still questions whether Hollywood is really the perfect place for young children.

The “Quiet on Set” docuseries has turn into a hot topic ever because it was released on MAX. The series delves into the troubling facets of kids’s television, highlighting issues comparable to abuse, exploitation, and the immense pressures young stars face while navigating the intricate world of Hollywood.

Many actors and actresses have watched the series and have released statements, including those of Josh Peck, Ariana Grande, and Elizabeth Gillies.

Although Ortega has not yet watched the docuseries, her mother did and expressed relief that Ortega didn’t experience similar traumatic events. Ortega credits her safety to her family’s vigilant oversight but acknowledges that she faced some negative experiences herself.

“Just speaking about my profession as a baby overall, there have been definitely a number of moments where you realized, ‘Oh, possibly that person didn’t have my best interests,’ or possibly they didn’t wish to be as supportive of me as they said,” she told The Recent York Times.

“And that’s a tough lesson to learn so young, and particularly hard when you will have adults or individuals who should know higher addressing you in a way that’s potentially harmful to any person whose brain continues to be growing and developing,” the actress added.

The Wednesday actress also admitted that while she found fame as a baby, she doesn’t think the work environment is good for somebody so young.

“Children aren’t purported to be working like that,” Ortega told the outlet. “They’re purported to be climbing trees and drawing and going to highschool. A few of those kids’ parents don’t even take school seriously, so I feel really, really fortunate to have had parents who made sure that I frolicked with friends, made sure that I went to public school and wouldn’t allow me to work on a job unless I had straight A’s and was prioritizing my sleep and my schoolwork.”

“Child acting is strange,” she added. “I see why my parents felt so hesitant about it, since you’re putting a baby in an adult workplace. I feel if I had just stayed growing up in Coachella Valley, I can be a very different person.”

Although she recognizes that Hollywood is not the healthiest for a baby, Ortega explains that she wouldn’t change her past.

“There’s times that I regret it; there’s times that my parents regret it. Looking back, I wouldn’t change anything,” she told the Recent York Times. “I don’t imagine in that because if anything, I’m incredibly grateful for the teachings that it did teach me.”

“I really like that when I am going on a set now, I’m incredibly knowledgeable,” the 21-year-old added. “I do know what the camera verbiage means, I do know what a grip’s job is, I do know what a gaffer’s job is, I can get together with the [director of photography], I can undergo shot lists. I understand all of it. I do know what’s occurring around me, subsequently I feel incredibly protected and cozy and excited to go to work each day since it’s familiar to me.”

The now 21-year-old admitted that she “wouldn’t speak the best way that I do or approach interactions the best way that I do.”

“It’s completely modified my way of considering and going about life, and once I speak to other child actors, I can pick them out immediately because all of us have that,” she said. “It’s just very specific, like some secret little language or something that all of us share.”

“Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV” is currently streaming on MAX.