Jenna Ortega Says Child Stars 'Aren't Supposed to Be Working Like That'

Jenna Ortega found success as a child actor, but she doesn’t think Hollywood is the best place for a kid. “Children aren’t supposed to be working like that,” Ortega, now 21, told The New York Times in an interview published on Saturday, August 24. “They are supposed to be climbing trees and drawing and going to school.

Some 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 hung out 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.” Ortega, who stars in September’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice , has said her parents helped her pursue acting at age 9 after she expressed her interest over several years. She quickly made her sitcom debut in 2012, going on to play Young Jane on The CW’s Jane the Virgin and landing a leading role on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle .

“Child acting is strange,” Ortega told the NYT . “I see why my parents felt so hesitant about it, because you’re putting a child in an adult workplace. I think if I had just stayed growing up in Coachella Valley, I would be a completely different person.

” She continued, “I wouldn’t speak the way that I do or approach interactions the way that I do. It’s completely changed my way of thinking and going about life, and when I speak to other child actors, I can pick them out instantly b.