Jenna Ortega Had A Major Crush On Barack Obama As A Kid

Everyone has at least one celebrity crush that's a little bit odd, and Netflix's "Wednesday" star Jenna Ortega is no exception. While speaking with Elle in 2023, Ortega divulged the film that made her want to be an actor — and her crush on a former president. The movie in question was "Man on Fire" starring Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, and Christopher Walken. The movie, which chronicles the kidnapping of Fanning's character, equal parts frightened and fascinated Ortega.

"I was happy sitting and dissecting that movie over and over again," Ortega said. "I couldn't fathom how someone so young could do something that would scare me so aggressively. But I also loved the way that it made me feel. I decided that's what I was passionate about."

Ortega's mother didn't believe her at first when she cited acting as a new career goal — especially since not long before then, she said she wanted to be the first female president due to a crush on Barack Obama. "I had phases where I clung to something and then made it my entire personality," Ortega said, before adding, "To this day, I'm still obsessed with Obama."

While speaking to The Sunday Times Style, Jenna Ortega was asked a series of rapid-fire questions for their "Get to Know Jenna Ortega in 60 Seconds" video. One of them was "When you were younger you wish you had known ... " Ortega replied, "I wish I would have known that I had absolutely no chance with Barack Obama." Obama was mentioned again in that same interview on Ortega's list of "dream dinner party guests," along with late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, musician Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk fame), and late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

A younger Ortega even reached out to one of Obama's close friends to try and meet him. In her "20 Questions on Deadline" interview, Ortega talked about her crush on Obama, recalling: "I was obsessed with him. I watched the inauguration with goo-goo eyes on my face." She also explained she was "starstruck" seeing Oprah Winfrey at the "A Wrinkle in Time" movie premiere. As a child, the "Scream" (2022) actor had penned many letters to Obama, and also to Winfrey to see if she could introduce the two of them.

 Sadly, Ortega has yet to meet Obama despite her letter-writing campaign — "I'm waiting for a response on those letters," Ortega added.

In addition to being a wildly successful actor, Jenna Ortega is an author as well. In 2021, her nonfiction book "It's All Love: Reflections for Your Heart & Soul" was published. The book explores the ups and downs of Ortega's life and aims to try and inspire readers no matter what they're going through. In a Refinery29 interview around the time her book was released, Ortega was asked about the first couple she "stanned." Unsurprisingly, Ortega's answer was, "Michelle [Obama] and Barack Obama."

Although they have yet to meet, Barack isn't a stranger to having friends in the Hollywood sphere — his friendship with George Clooney is proof of that. Perhaps one day Ortega and Barack could finally meet. Or, maybe even better, they could collaborate. The Obamas have a company called Higher Ground Productions that has produced a variety of projects, including "Leave the World Behind" and "We The People." Ortega's dream to meet Barack might come true tenfold if she was able to star in one of his future projects.