Although often called a rising star, Jenna Ortega is actually a firmly entrenched star in the Hollywood cosmos at this point, thanks to her status as a bonafide scream queen and leading role in Netflix’s Wednesday.

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In addition to being the latest actress to embody the Addams family’s unblinking eldest child, Ortega has also lit up the screen in everything from X to the Scream films. She’ll soon reunite with Wednesday‘s Tim Burton in the long-awaited legacy sequel, Beetlejuice 2, in which she’ll play Winona Ryder’s daughter. Yup, no doubt about it, Ortega stands head and shoulders above many of her contemporaries.

Well, metaphorically speaking, that is, as Ortega’s actually exceptionally short. When Wednesday first premiered in fall 2022, viewers were stunned by her small stature, convinced that there had to be some digital or practical effects employed to make her appear younger, as per the role requiring her to portray a teenager. But how tall is Jenna Ortega really?

Jenna Ortega’s height, explained

Ortega’s (lack of) height is very noticeable in Wednesday, with some viewers believing there may have been some Lord of the Rings-style visual trickery utilized to achieve the feat. Or else director Tim Burton used some clever shot-framing in order to make her appear shorter. In fact, the reality is very different.

The actress — who has already become synonymous with the supernatural and hitched to the horror genre despite being just into her 20s — may be wise beyond her years, but tall she is not. The 21-year-old stated that she is roughly 5 foot 1 inches tall during one of Wired’s Auto-Complete Interviews, in which she answered a variety of commonly Googled questions about her.

Ortega’s height is part of what makes her so convincing as teen characters, but at some point she’s bound to outgrow such roles. Again, figuratively, not literally.