Wednesday Star Jenna Ortega Takes Over MTV TV & Movie Awards With Best Performance

After setting viewership records for Netflix, Wednesday is moving on to the MTV Awards. The annual awards show aired on MTV on Sunday night, despite the live portion of the show being cancelled due to the ongoing writers’ strike that began at the start of the month. Netflix’s Wednesday made a big splash at the clip-heavy awards show, with its star taking home the big award for television performances.

Jenna Ortega won the MTV Award for Best Performance in a TV Show for her titular role in Wednesday. The actress has seen her star going higher and higher in recent years, but it was the breakout success of Wednesday that has helped make her a household name. Now she’s got an MTV Award to show for it. Take a look!

Jenna Ortega Almost Turned Down Wednesday

It may be surprising to think about given the show’s success, but Ortega almost declined to star in Tim Burton’s wildly popular Addams Family spinoff series. While speaking to The Times earlier this year, Ortega said she initially passed on playing the part.

“No, I didn’t. I got the email, passed on it.” Ortega revealed. “I had done so much TV in my life, all I’ve ever wanted to do is film. When I first started acting, I don’t want to say nobody believed in me, but at the same time nobody believed in me. You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve been able to start going up for film. I was scared that by signing on to another television show it could prevent me from doing other jobs I really wanted and cared about. The only reason I went back is because Tim [Burton, director and executive producer of Wednesday] is such a legend, and we just happened to get along very well. But even then I said, ‘Ah, no — I think I’m OK,’ a couple [more] times.”

Fortunately, Ortega came around and decided to take the job, helping to turn Wednesday into the massive streaming juggernaut that it has become.