In ‘Big Mistakes,’ Taylor Ortega Not Only Keeps Up With Dan Levy and Laurie Metcalf, Her Emmy-Worthy Performance Steals The Show

There’s a reason the expression “a tough act to follow” exists. No one wants to be the first person to make a mafia show after The Sopranos, or play the primary character in a political comedy after Veep, and as far as sibling dynamics on TV go, you don’t want to be the actress to play Dan Levy’s sister in a family-driven comedy series. 

After six seasons of playing the David Rose to Annie Murphy’s Alexis Rose in Schitt’s Creek, Levy — who served as creator and EP on the fish-out-of-water CBC comedy — set out to create Big Mistakes,  another TV show with a sibling dynamic at the forefront. But who, in their right mind, would ever step up to the plate and take on the responsibility (and honor) of playing Levy’s next on-screen sister? Enter Taylor Ortega. 

There is no way to talk about the accomplishment that is Ortega’s performance in Big Mistakes without talking about just how much she had to overcome to get a fair evaluation. The impossibly high bar of Murphy, who went on to win an Emmy for playing the clueless but lovable Rose heiress, cast a shadow on Ortega from the moment she was announced to be playing Morgan Dardano in the Netflix series. And yet, it’s one that the actress hurdles with ease. 

All the way back in February, Netflix invited me to see an early cut of the first two episodes of Big Mistakes, the new comedy series they were hoping to see if certain tastemakers thought could go up against the best of them this awards season. From the very first minute that Ortega’s character appears on screen alongside Levy’s in Episode 1 (“Get Your Nonna A Necklace”), it’s clear we’re looking at another brother-sister dynamic that feels like a caricature, and, simultaneously, all too relatable. That is no small part due to the immediate and lightning-in-a-bottle type chemistry that Levy and Ortega capture.

ADHD personified, Ortega’s character is the backbone of the chaos-driven comedy, which sees a brother and sister stepping into the world of organized crime after a single decision leads them down a rabbit hole of epic proportions. For the actress — who has had several supporting and guest-starring roles on shows like Ghosts, The Four Seasons, and Succession — not only is the main role an opportunity to finally flex her unimpeachable acting chops, and to prove that she has leading character energy. While making the leap from recurring/guest star to regular (and lead) character may have been a daunting task for many, Ortega says it’s one she took in stride, even if that’s because she didn’t have enough time to stress about it.

“We are there every day and it’s kind of the best possible experience [in facing fears] because there’s no time to question yourself,” she told DECIDER in a sit-down interview. “I’m not sitting around waiting to go on camera. I get there in the morning, we shoot all day, and then I go home, I sleep, I come back. Your brain doesn’t really have time to ask yourself if you’re doing it correctly, which it could, but it’s nice to not have that time.”

In a role like this and a show like Big Mistakes, there is no room for doubt or hesitation, especially when you have to play all sides of the coin and make it feel effortless. Not only does the person playing Morgan have to sell that they have ADHD, a dying relationship with her boyfriend (Jack Innanen), and a life of crime on the horizon, she has to do it all while still maintaining a core familial comedy feeling to the tone, which is where Ortega really surprises the audience. It’s easy to believe Morgan is a tornado — Ortega says she’s not that far off from her Big Mistakes character in real-life on that front — but to make it understandable and somehow even endearing? That is something I think most audience members never would have predicted at the start.

Like any good actress, Ortega takes the credit only up to a certain point — she notes that so much of Morgan’s hilarity comes from the writing and the work she did with Levy to fine-tune the character to her specifications. That said, the actress’ work cannot be overlooked, as she breathes life into a character that could, with many other actresses, quickly get stale and predictable. The earnestness of a young woman, a young teacher who is desperately trying to figure life out and break free from the feeling of numbness is one that I think everyone can relate to in one way or another. In trying and succeeding to make Morgan a three-dimensional character who we can resonate, Ortega levels up a character that we already love.

Now, as Emmy buzz mounts for the show and its cast members — Levy and Ortega’s on-screen mother, Laurie Metcalf, just won the Gotham Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series — it’s vital that voters consider Ortega, for her incredible work. It’s one role Netflix, for one, is hoping others see as exceedingly special, especially after naming Ortega as one of their “scene stealers” alongside Timothy Simons and Jackie Tohn for Nobody Wants This and Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton for Beef Season 2. That type of recognition is meaningful, says Ortega, but for her, it’s more about the reception from the audience and the general feeling of knowing she is doing something right if it’s landing with fans.

“I do my job hoping that my interpretation of what I’m doing is I don’t think right or wrong, but something that people enjoy and do think is very funny. It’s like what I think is funny or honest. So whenever anyone else likes what you’re doing, it’s like, ‘Okay, good, I can trust my instincts,’” she shares.