Jenna Ortega recalls going without food or water while working as child actor

Jenna Ortega has reflected on the pressures she experienced while working as a child actor, recalling that she would sometimes go an entire day without eating or drinking while on set.

The Wednesday star discussed her early career in a recent interview with Esquire, explaining that she was determined not to cause problems for the adults around her.

Ortega began acting professionally in the early 2010s, with early roles including Iron Man 3, Days of Our Lives and CSI: NY.

“As a child, I was so grateful and so excited to be there that my game face was on,” Ortega said. “I wasn’t asking for a sip of water. I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody.”

Looking back at her experiences, the 23-year-old actress said she now recognises that prioritising her work over her own needs was not necessarily beneficial.

“Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself,” Ortega said.

Ortega also recalled how early she decided that acting was the career she wanted to pursue. She said she was seven years old when she first told her parents about her ambitions.

“I was 7 years old when I said I wanted to do this,” she continued. “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. And I never really stopped, because I’m very stubborn. And then I never questioned it.”

The actress also credited fellow former child star Dakota Fanning with influencing her understanding of acting when she was young.

“As a young girl, to see a young girl with so much, it felt like wisdom, like she had lived and walked this planet many times before,” Ortega said. “She kind of taught me what an actor even was when I was a kid.”