Jenna Ortega reveals the name of the Denzel Washington film that inspired her to start her acting career.
The Emmy-nominated actress, who has starred in successful projects including Scream Franchise, You, Wednesday and the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Continuation, recently told Vanity Fair in a detailed interview that it was 2004 man on Fire that “changed the entire course of my life.”
“I am so grateful to my six-year-old self who wanted to be president and an astronaut … because I realize now that I was always looking for a way out,” Ortega added.
Directed by Tony Scott and starring Washington and Dakota Fanning, the thriller follows former CIA agent John Creasy as he embarks on a vengeful rescue mission after 9-year-old Lupita Ramos, a girl he was assigned to protect as a bodyguard, is kidnapped.
Ortega said Vanity Fair that after seeing Fanning perform as a child, she immediately knew what career path she wanted to take, and that was straight to Hollywood. And after her mother posted a video of her performing a dramatic monologue on Facebook, which a family friend passed on to a casting director, she ended up being driven to LA for auditions by her mother.
But only recently has Ortega begun to accept that her life has changed forever and will most likely continue to change.
“The pressure in my profession is so great that it’s ridiculous, beautiful and horrible,” sometimes all at once, she added.
