Taylor Ortega was filming Another simple favor On location in Italy when she had the opportunity to audition for a new sitcom – Dan Levy Big mistakes. It seemed like a perfect fit: The character was her age, from a similar hometown in New Jersey, with a character description eerily similar to her own. She enlisted the help of her colleagues in putting together a self-tape. “I was in Italy for a month, so I was recording a lot of tapes while I was there, and at one point I had to do a live Zoom audition and Alex Newell was my reader,” she says. Hollywood Reporter. “Sometimes you have a Tony winner at your disposal and you just have to beg them to help you out.” Then she did her best to set her expectations.
“The role seemed like a one-man role to me, but you do a lot of these things and you know that the creative teams really have an agenda, and that’s a good thing,” Ortega says. This approach worked fairly well, and I literally forgot about it. Then, six months later, the producers asked her to send in another tape, and two days later the actress found herself in a room taking a chemistry test with Levy. The next day, Creator W Schitt’s Creek The star called her and told her that he would choose her as his main partner Big mistakes. “I then found out that I was the first person to audition,” she says. “And when you’re the first tape, it’s the opening act for all the other actors. Not everyone’s brain is like, let’s pick it, but fortunately I ended up being fit enough to come back.”
The Netflix comedy series, which comes from Levy and co-creator Rachel Sinnott, follows a pair of siblings who accidentally become involved in a criminal organization. Ortega plays Morgan, a former New York City public school teacher who is reeling from a recent deterioration in her circumstances: she’s back living in her hometown, with her longtime boyfriend, and can’t admit that she’s outgrown her life. When Morgan steals a necklace during a shopping trip with her brother (Levi), they find themselves in debt to the wrong people. while Big mistakes Following a driving, crime-filled plot, the heart of the story lies in the endearingly abrasive relationship between the siblings; It’s not that different in tone from Levi’s penetrating jab Schitt’s Creek.
Of course, Ortega was never involved in the mob but she says her upbringing was very similar to what we see on the series. “My family, they all have really big personalities, and even though they’re not comedians, they’re really funny. In New Jersey, humor and anger are a big part of the way people communicate — I don’t know anyone from there who’s really boring.” Although her parents were strict, her father was determined to have her films screened by auteur directors, even though they were age-appropriate. Reservoir dogs It was an early formative hour, as it were Saturday Night Live. She went to Columbia University and then entered the New York improv scene, where she first met Sinnott.
“I feel like I talk about improvisation too much, but I think it’s one of the most ideal forms of comedic expression because it’s impossible to monetize; you can’t commoditize your talent and artistry in live improvisation, and that makes it really pure and fun,” she says. “It also teaches you how to respect other people’s ideas, because you’re really forced to accept people’s contributions. The model doesn’t work without it.”
In 2022, she booked her first big job, a recurring role on Paul Feig’s satirical sitcom. Welcome to Flashwhich relied heavily on improvisation in its straightforward style of filmmaking. Ortega became Feig’s go-to player — and has since appeared in 2024 Win the jackpot And 2025 Another simple favor – He also had roles in What do we do in the shadows? and The four seasons. “I’m so grateful to Paul because he sees me as someone he can trust, and I’m reliving that experience now with Dan,” she says.
Although she admits to having an “anti-social” relationship with the actor during his years of binge eating Schitt’s Creekthe two didn’t officially meet until the final chemistry test for the role Big mistakes. Levy wrote a scene he intended to use only for testing — showing his character and Ortega trapped in the back of a truck driven by a mob player, in a shouting match that mirrored their combative yet loving relationship — but the relationship between the actors was so obvious that he added it to the show. “I’m a big talker, I’m a Gemini, I move very quickly in conversation, and I’ve been told that in any argument I focus too much on facts and logic,” she says. “So I thought I could play this role very close to the writing. I didn’t have to come up with a whole character.”
In addition to the most exciting elements of the show, Big mistakes It also spends a lot of time on its main characters’ relationships. Levi Nicky is a pastor who hides his boyfriend from his family and ministry, and Ortega Morgan is sadly engaged to her long-time boyfriend (played by Adults“Jack Inanen.) And Ortega has drawn from her own life as well. “This might be a lesson that, as a queer person, you’re gifted with learning sooner than others, but it’s very important to know that if you find yourself resentful of the person you’re with, it’s time to leave,” she says. The actress went through similar relationships in her early 20s, where she dated men she wasn’t well compatible with, and she felt completely unable to be honest about the situation. She laughs: “I say, maybe solve “It has a tragedy, and then no one will be mad at me for leaving it because I’ll be mourning.” “I had to have a difficult conversation, but when I was 22 I thought, ‘Surely he’s going to drown in the ocean and no one will have to be mad at me for even a second.’
Big mistakeswhich airs all episodes Thursday, is Ortega’s first starring role (“I used to be comedic relief”), and she says the heavier lifting of the show has given her a taste for more challenges — she loves the theater experience. But first, Ortega and the rest of the cast hope the series connects well with audiences for more seasons. “Dan has a big picture of the show, from beginning to end, so we like to do the version of the show that he envisioned,” she says. “So I hope that everyone who finds this show really loves it — and I hope that a lot of people find it and love it.”
