Jenna Ortega Gets Emotional After a Journalist Tells Her She's "Latina Enough"

Actor Jenna Ortega's career is undoubtedly on the rise. Unfortunately, with a booming movie career, specifically in the horror movie genre, comes critics.

Jenna's Latina heritage and cultural representation have faced criticism. During an interview, a journalist provided an impromptu affirmation to the starlet.

In August 2024, a clip circulated on TikTok of Jenna in an interview promoting her film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice with Catherine O'Hara. Before the interview began, the journalist, Carolina Reynoso, took a moment to affirm Jenna on camera.

"Jenna, I just wanted to say, from one Latina to another, you're Latina enough," Reynoso says in the clip. "I don't care what anyone else says. Especially as someone in the industry. You've opened so many doors for people like me. So, you are Latina enough; thank you so much for everything you do. I really appreciate you."

As she listened to Reynoso speak, Jenna rose from her chair to hug the journalist as Catherine said, "Really?" and added, "What a beautiful thing," as she watched them embrace.

Reynoso shared a stitch of the clip on her personal TikTok on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. In the video, she thanked everyone who supported the heartfelt moment but admitted "a lot of hate" was sprinkled into the "kind" comments. The hateful comments likely came from those who criticized Jenna for being open about not being fluent in Spanish and questioned her Latina heritage, which Jenna touched on in another interview with Vanity Fair that same month.

"For a second, I was almost nervous to speak about my family’s background because I feel like I was made to feel like it wasn’t valid,” she shared with the outlet, adding later, "But also, something that I’m learning is it’s not my job to carry the weight of everybody who’s ever had that experience.”