Jenna Ortega and Olivia Rodrigo have uncannily similar careers. Both started off as child actresses on Disney Channel shows. Both made the transition from child star to adult star. And both are among the most acclaimed and popular names in their respective fields, music and acting.
Jenna Ortega and Olivia Rodrigo are close friends, and have often voiced support for one another during their careers. There’s been some confusion as of late, however, as to how close they really are. Some believe these two are cousins, or perhaps even sisters, due to their similar ages and backgrounds.
Since Ortega and Rodrigo seem poised to dominate the screen and the charts for years to come, let’s set the record straight on whether they’re related.
Ortega and Rodrigo are different ethnicities
While it may be disappointing to some, we’re here to confirm that Jenna Ortega and Olivia Rodrigo are not related. They aren’t sisters, cousins, or even cousins twice removed. They don’t even share the same ethnic background. Ortega’s father is Mexican, according to Teen Vogue, while her mother is Mexican and Puerto Rican.
Olivia Rodrigo, meanwhile, identifies as Filipino. She talked about her heritage during a 2018 interview with CAAM. She revealed that her great-grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was just a teenager, and that she loves to learn about her culture as she gets older:
It’s so important to know your culture. Talking about it with [my grandparents] was really informative.
Ortega and Rodrigo may get mistaken for each other often, and they do look similar enough to pass as relatives in say, a film or TV show, but they do not have relatives in common.
The Disney stars have been friends since 2018
Considering how young Jenna Ortega and Olivia Rodrigo both are, it says a lot that they have known each other since 2018. Both of them appeared on an episode of the Disney Channel TV show Bizaardvark. Ortega played the best friend of Rodrigo’s character, and the friendship carried over into real life. Both of them were 14 years old at the time.
Olivia Rodrigo claimed that she practically grew up with Ortega during a 2023 interview with Wired. She praised her friend’s acting talent, but her wording, particularly the “growing up” part, made have led some fans to assume they were raised in a literal family and not a metaphorical Disney one:
Jenna and I grew up in the Disney Channel, which was a very strange way to grow up. But I’ve always thought she was the coolest, and [I’m] so happy for her and all of her success.
Hopefully we get to see these two superstars reunite in a project down the line. They may not be related by blood, but they are certainly related by experience.