Jenna is indeed her mother’s daughter as Natalie Ortega has become one of the most popular teen celebrity moms on Instagram.
Jenna Ortega became a household name after her captivating performance in the Netflix series Wednesday, which left viewers wanting to know more about her. As expected, fans soon turned their attention to Jenna’s roots, eager to discover all they could about her family. Many were especially curious about Jenna Ortega’s mother and whether she was a Hollywood star like her daughter. If you’re one of those curious fans, then read on to learn all about Jenna Ortega’s mother and her interesting background.
Meet the Mother of Our Hollywood Sweetheart, Jenna
Natalie Ortega, the mother of our Hollywood sweetheart Jenna Ortega, is a 46-year-old Puerto Rican American from California, US. She works as a licensed emergency nurse at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California.
Natalie Ortega Speaks Two Languages
Growing up, Natalie Ortega’s grandmother taught her Spanish while babysitting her, which is why she’s bilingual in English and Spanish today. In a recent interview, Jenna Ortega revealed that her mum has always hoped for Jenna and her siblings to be bilingual. But achieving this has been challenging since her husband, Edward Ortega, can’t speak Spanish. This challenge was one of the reasons Jenna took on Wednesday’s role, which made her embrace her Latina culture and heritage.
How Famous Is Natalie Ortega?
Natalie Ortega may not be a Hollywood star, but her being Jenna Ortega’s mother has made her popular on Instagram with over 17K followers. She is very active on her social media handle and uses it to support her children and share their achievements.
Natalie Ortega, A Dedicated Emergency Nurse
One would think that having a daughter as famous as Jenna, Natalie would care more about fame than humanity. However, that is not the case with this emergency nurse. Like her daughter, Natalie Ortega is highly dedicated to her profession. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Natalie Ortega worked actively as an emergency nurse at Eisenhower. She used social media to encourage people to do their part to reduce the spread of the disease.
In April 2020, Jenna Ortega’s mum posted a selfie on her Instagram from Eisenhower Health, where she wrote:
“Never did I think I’d be working as an emergency nurse during a pandemic. Definitely scary times.”
She captioned the image;
“Please be kind to one another and do your part to help flatten the curve. Help end #covid19 #stayhome.”
Natalie Ortega’s dedication to helping others goes beyond her current role as an emergency nurse. In fact, in 2010, she served on a medical mission in Haiti after the tragic earthquake that claimed the lives of over 200 thousand people.
Natalie Ortega’s Role in Jenna’s Success in Showbiz
Although Natalie Ortega isn’t interested in the film industry, she played a crucial role in her daughter Jenna’s rise to stardom. During her debut on Saturday Night Live, Jenna Ortega shared how she began her career in the entertainment industry. Ortega disclosed that she has been acting since she was a child, and her journey began when her mother uploaded a video of her on Facebook and she got discovered.
As much as posting videos and taking little Jenna to her auditions largely contributed to her acting success, Jenna’s parents also balanced things out for their overly famous daughter by treating her like every other teenage girl. In her interview with Press Cycle Jenna described this as one of the things she loves about her family.
In this interview, she said:
“Another thing I love about them is that they don’t care at all about what I do. They have no interest whatsoever in this world or in the film industry. I could come home from work with cool people, prominent people, people I looked up to, and they weren’t interested. They were like, ‘Hey, you didn’t do the dishes before you left, so you’re going to have to do them all week’.”
Jenna’s Ortega’s Journey in Showbiz
Jenna Ortega’s acting history began at the young age of 8 in 2010 when she started trying out at auditions with her mum. Her early career kicked off with commercials, featuring in ads for the likes of McDonald’s.
Throughout this phase, her parents would accompany her to all her auditions and were basically her number-one fans. However, it wasn’t until two years later that she landed her first acting gig–a cameo in an episode of the TV series Rob (2012).
Since then, she has starred in many popular movies and series, including Iron Man 3 (2013), Insidious: Chapter 2, Jane the Virgin (2014), Stuck in the Middle (2016), Scream VI (2022), and Wednesday (2022).
On social media and in an interview, Jenna has often talked about how supportive her family is, especially her mom, Natalie Ortega.
The Power of a Mother’s Support
We can’t stop talking about Natalie Ortega’s unwavering support for her daughter Jenna Ortega’s career as it has been instrumental to her success.
Thanks to her mother’s support and encouragement, Jenna Ortega has become a prominent figure in the entertainment industry. She is an inspiration to young women, especially aspiring actresses of underrepresented racial groups.
With her raw talent, hard work, and supportive family, Jenna is well on her way to becoming the next Zendaya.
