Jenna Ortega nearly walked away from her acting career before landing breakthrough role

Jenna Ortega almost "called it quits" in acting before landing her role in You.

The 23-year-old star, who got started on children's TV shows like Richie Rich and Stuck In The Middle, considered walking away from her career on screen before she was cast as Ellie Alves in the second season of Netflix thriller You.

She told Kid Cudi's Big Bro podcast: "I didn’t know what else I was gonna do. I’ve never really considered anything else, more so recently, just out of sake of curiosity and wanting another life experience.

"But when I was a teenager, I’d gotten off a children’s show, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had to prove myself and meet all these new casting directors who didn’t know who I was.

“It just felt like a good time to call it quits if I was going to. I was starting high school, and, ‘it was a good run’ sort of thing."

Jenna got as far as spending "a few months" chatting about the situation with her team, but You was enough to change her mind.

She recalled: "We had talked about it for a few months with my team.

"And then, I think I booked that show You, and then I went on that set, and I loved it and had the best time. I thought, ‘Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go.'”

Since then, Jenna has landed roles in the likes of X, Scream VI, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, as well as Netflix hit Wednesday.