Jenna Ortega’s tribute to Catherine O’Hara, as tearful Actor Award reaction goes viral

At the Actor Awards, Jenna Ortega had a touching emotional reaction to the speech for the late Catherine O’Hara, and her heartfelt tribute to the actress has resurfaced.

Catherine and Jenna worked together on the Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which came out in 2024. After a sudden blockage in a lung artery, Catherine tragically passed away in February of this year.

Jenna crying… ohmybaby 🥺

Seth Rogen's speech on Catherine O'Hara pic.twitter.com/zx8QvDm21K

— ortegay 🥝🎧 (@Roxdk7) March 2, 2026

At the Actor Awards over the weekend, a touching tribute was made to Catherine O’Hara, and she was presented a posthumous award for her role as Patty Leigh in The Studio. Seth Rogan accepted the award for the late actor, and the camera showed multiple celebrities getting emotional as he gave his speech. In one clip, Jenna Ortega can be seen with red eyes, wiping away tears.

Viral tweets sharing this moment have shown support for Jenna. When Catherine passed away, Jenna shared a tribute on Instagram to her ex co-star.

“Catherine is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever had the honour of getting to work with and know. I’ll forever cherish the time we shared together, and everything she taught me,” Jenna said.

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A post shared by Jenna Ortega (@jennaortega)

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She continued: “A giant, an inspiration in many ways. One of the greats. Thank you so much for it all.”

The two spoke highly of each other as actors in an interview with NME, reflecting on that iconic dance scene from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

“You were the inspiration behind the performance art aspect of it,” Jenna  said, talking to Catherine.

Catherine explained her mindset, saying: “I wanted the more… illogical to my mind… dance moves that kind of mean nothing in all modern… not all modern dance, modern dance is amazing.”

“We were in a tent right off set and we were like, ‘Oh it’s funny when you do that,’” Jenna said, Catherine adding that they “went for it”.

In a separate interview with People, Catherine emphasised just how much she respected the 23-year-old actress.

“Love her. What a cool young woman. Wow.”

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Featured image via X/YouTube