Former Child Star Grateful Mom Protected Her On Set

Published: August 28, 2024

Former Child Star Grateful Mom Protected Her On Set

By Movieguide® Contributor

WEDNESDAY star Jenna Ortega is grateful her mom protected her as a child actor, telling the New York Times she “watched over me like a hawk.”

Thanks to her mom, the actress never experienced the misconduct on set that many other child stars do, and the documentary QUIET ON SET confirmed the importance of her mom’s actions.

“I think for her, it was more pain, because she had seen the way that other children maybe weren’t protected or weren’t as looked after,” Ortega said after her mother watched the documentary. “She watched over me like a hawk, so I think for her, it was more empathizing and wishing she somehow could have done something to help. She just called me saying she was so grateful that things were ok and that she was there to witness everything.”

Ortega got her start in Hollywood at 9, starring in Disney’s STUCK IN THE MIDDLE.

While she is grateful for her mother’s protection, she emphasized that “child acting is strange.”

“I see why my parents felt so hesitant about it, because you’re putting a child in an adult workplace,” she explained. “I think if I had just stayed growing up in Coachella Valley, I would be a completely different person. 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 because we all have that — it’s just very specific, like some secret little language or something that we all share.”

“Children aren’t supposed to be working like that,” she added. “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 admitted that she sometimes “regrets” choosing a career in the spotlight, but she “wouldn’t change anything.”

“I don’t believe in that because if anything, I’m incredibly grateful for the lessons that it did teach me,” she admitted. “I love that when I go on a set now, I’m incredibly knowledgeable. I know what the camera verbiage means, I know what a grip’s job is, I know what a gaffer’s job is, I can get along with the D.P., I can go through shot lists. I understand it all. I know what’s going on around me, therefore I feel incredibly safe and comfortable and excited to go to work every day because it’s familiar to me.”

Movieguide® previously reported on another mother-daughter duo’s reflections on child acting:

Former Nickelodeon star Keke Palmer and her mother are sharing their recollections of former showrunner Dan Schneider.

“I honestly do remember you having a lot to say about the Dan Schneider sets,” Palmer said on an episode of the “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” podcast. “I remember you feeling a way about Nickelodeon.”

Palmer’s mother, Sharon, replied, “My honest opinion is I thought the whole atmosphere of the Dan Schneider set was very weird, very cultish. The parents were very secretive, and I honestly thought they all took themselves way too seriously.”

While Palmer was a Nickelodeon star, playing the titular role in TRUE JACKSON VP, she never worked directly with Schneider, whose credits include ICARLY, DRAKE AND JOSH, VICTORIOUS and THE AMANDA SHOW.