Jenna Ortega Says She Would ‘Go All Day’ Without Food or Water as a Child Actor

Long before she became a household name, Jenna Ortega was quietly enduring the pressures of Hollywood on her own. The star is now looking back at just how much she sacrificed to keep up appearances on set.

Jenna Ortega has opened up about the pressures she faced in the early days of her career. The "Scream" star revealed that, as a child actor, she sometimes went entire days without asking for food or water because she feared being an inconvenience.

Jenna Ortega attends Netflix's "Wednesday" Emmys FYSEE Event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on May 22, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images

Ortega, 23, told Esquire in a recent interview that she learned early on to avoid drawing any attention to her own needs on set, a habit she now realizes came at the cost of her own well-being.

"I wasn't asking for a sip of water," she said. "I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody. Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself."

Ortega also opened up about the perfectionism she developed early in her career.

Jenna Ortega attends GenerationOn Youth Charity 2nd Annual Holiday Gift Wrapping Party Hosted By PMG at Guy's North on December 4, 2014 in Studio City, California. | Source: Getty Images

"I really had it going for me as a child 'cause I can't think of one mistake I made," she said. "I feel like I make mistakes now all the time, but as a child, I was so grateful and so excited to be there that my game face was on."

Part of maintaining that "game face" meant never asking for anything on set, she said. Ortega began her career at just 7 years old, after telling her parents she wanted to become an actor.

At 13, Ortega landed her breakout role in the Disney Channel series "Stuck in the Middle." She has since become an international star thanks to the success of the "Wednesday" series on Netflix and film roles in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and the "Scream" franchise.