Jenna Ortega has been acting since she was 9, but her fame hit a new level after her Emmy-nominated leading role in Wednesday, Tim Burton’s Netflix series about Wednesday Addams that debuted in 2022.
Around that time, Ortega met her Beetlejuice Beetlejuice co-star Winona Ryder, whose fame also took off when she was in her late teens/early 20s, and the two really hit it off. In a conversation with Harper’s Bazaar tied to a Ryder cover story, Ortega revealed that Ryder was a guiding light for her.
“She definitely helped me feel less alone,” Ortega told the publication of the Stranger Things star. “It’s a very isolating experience and a scary one. Being able to speak to somebody who had witnessed that firsthand, maybe even more, was a great source of comfort for me, and I can’t thank her enough for that.”
This isn’t the first time Ortega praised Ryder, previously telling E! News what she thought of her onscreen mother.
“Winona is just the loveliest, sweetest — just one of my favorite people I think I’ve ever met,” the You actress said. “I love her a lot and I felt really grateful to get to know her and work with her—she is just an angel on this planet.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice follows Ryder’s Lydia Deetz and her family returning to their home in Winter River, Connecticut, after a loss. Together, they must deal with the consequences after Lydia’s daughter, Ortega’s Astrid, opens the portal to the afterlife. Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara also return for the Beetlejuice sequel, starring alongside Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti and Willem Dafoe.
In a conversation with Vanity Fair earlier this year, Ortega shared some details about her character, noting that, “She’s weird, but in a different way and not in the way you’d assume, I would say.”
She continued, “The relationship between Lydia and Astrid, my character, is very important. And it’s also really strange because it’s a lot of catching up and putting the pieces together of what’s gone on in Lydia’s life since [the first film], which is nice, I think, for anybody who loves the character and is excited to see her again.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters Sept. 6.
