'Wednesday' Star Jenna Ortega Is Defending Gen Z & Insists That 'We Can Be Smart Sometimes'

Wednesday star Jenna Ortega is arguably one of the most successful stars of her generation and now she's speaking up for Gen Z and the misrepresentation she says they can get in front of the camera.

In a new interview on the Hot Ones show, the Wednesday actress talked about growing up onscreen and the Gen Z tropes that she sees and disagrees with in today's entertainment.

Ortega's interview that dropped on Thursday in which she was asked by host Sean Evans if there is a "Gen Z trope or stereotype" about teens that she sees on TV or in scripts that gets "under her skin."

The 20-year-old actress acknowledged that since she looks a bit younger and has been acting for over a decade, she's often played a teenager in the majority of her roles.

“I feel like it’s always the bratty teen, bad mouth teen or a lot of times unintelligent, which I don’t think is true," she said.

She also explained that her generation has a unique advantage with all the information available right at their fingertips.

"I think it's hard too nowadays with all this new lingo coming around but I feel like my generation because there is so much accessible to them on the internet, there's just more opportunities for them to learn," she continued.

"I wish that they were given a bit more credit. We can be smart sometimes."

Ortega has starred in some major productions over the years.

Her biggest role came in 2022 when she played Wednesday Addams in Netflix's popular show Wednesday. She was even nominated for a Golden Globe for the leading role.

Ortega received a lot of praise for Wednesday, not just for the acting, but for taking cello and fencing lessons for the part. She also admitted that she came up with the iconic dance scene in the series.

The 20-year-old entertainer was also in the 2022 Scream film, last year's slasher flick X and the 2021 movie Yes Day.

You may have also seen her in the popular Netflix show You, in which she played Ellie Alves. The actress recently revealed she was upset she couldn't return for Season 4 as it conflicted with her filming schedule for Wednesday.

"I was so devastated when they reached out because I miss Ellie and I had been wanting to go back to Ellie for such a long time," she told Entertainment Tonight during an interview.

Ortega's next project Scream VI comes out on March 10.