Jenna Ortega felt pressure playing Wednesday Addams

Jenna Ortega felt under pressure playing Wednesday Addams.

The 20-year-old actress plays the central character in Wednesday, Netflix's new comedy-horror series, and Jenna has admitted that she felt under some pressure playing the "iconic character", who featured in The Addams Family in 1991 and its 1993 sequel, Addams Family Values.

She said: "I've never played such an iconic character who's someone that I grew up respecting so much.

"So I think, when you respect someone so much, you just want to do right by them and right by everybody else who fell in love with her for a very good reason."

Jenna also relished the experience of working with Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in the Addams Family movies but has another role in the new series.

She told the Backstage podcast: "It was interesting for sure, especially because I know that people are automatically making the comparison. But I think what kind of put me at ease was how cool and respectful and how generous of an actress she is.

"I think we got along really well. And also, I kind of comfort myself in knowing that because they live in two completely different realities. They're two completely different individuals."

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Meanwhile, Jenna previously revealed that her parents "can't believe" she's been so successful.

The actress' parents have always been hugely supportive of her ambitions — but even they've been shocked by what she's managed to achieve at such an early age.

Jenna shared: "I feel like they kind of can't believe it.

"Not to say that they didn't believe in me, because obviously they wouldn't have done six-hour car trips back and forth, four or five times a week, so that I could go to LA and audition, but still.

"My mom literally said this to me yesterday — she said, 'I did not think you were going to be here'. Which is true! That's what it is. Because we had no connection to Hollywood, it was a random thing."

ALSO READ: Netflix's Wednesday trailer reimagines The Addams Family amongst mayhem and murder