‘SNL’: Jenna Ortega Wants You to Know She’s Not as ‘Dark and Twisted’ as You Think

Jenna Ortega kicked off her Saturday Night Live hosting debut with a nod to her days as a child actor in a Colgate toothpaste commercial, but added a horror twist to the ad in light of her starring role in Wednesday, the Addams Family-inspired Netflix series.

“A lot of people assume that I am dark and twisted in real life because of these roles that I play,” Ortega said after also pointing out her role in Scream VI. “But I am not like that at all. I think there’s just something about my face when people see it and they’re like, ‘Hey, let’s throw blood on that.’”

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As to her beginnings as an actor, the 20-year-old joked, “I got discovered when my mom put a video of me on Facebook, which someone explained to me is like TikTok but for racism instead of dancing.”

In the toothpaste ad, which she shot when she was nine, Ortega described germs as “invisible nasties.” But after some music and visual edits, that phrase became the title of an upcoming horror flick.

Wednesday, which has been green-lit for a second season and which inspired plenty of memes about Ortega after her goth dance scene went viral, also features former SNL cast member Fred Armisen, who sat in the audience.

“I am so honored that you’re here,“ Ortega told him after inviting him on stage. “You’re the reason I started watching SNL, actually. My favorite sketch of all time is The Californians.

“Thanks, Jenna. That’s so nice,“ Armisen replied. “You know, the original idea came to me because I was giving directions—“

“Yeah, we figured it was something like that,“ Ortega jumped in, nudging him back to his seat. “It’s all good. Thank you, Fred.“

During Saturday’s episode, SNL also revealed who will next deliver the monologue on the April 1 episode: Quinta Brunson will serve as host, with musical guest Lil Yachty:

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