Ortega was pronounced dead after paramedics attempted to revive him for 30 minutes. He was 41 years old.
Actress Silvia Marso commemorated Ortega on social media, calling him “a tremendous actor and a colleague of integrity, honesty and as good a person as his parents Gloria Muñoz and Jose Antonio Ortega.”
Marso added, “I can’t even imagine how these parents, colleagues, so beloved in the profession, are. How horrible… I can’t take it in. Absolute sadness.”
Ortega played the manager of the La Cabana restaurant on six episodes of Elite in 2018.
More recently, he appeared on Spanish television shows including 4 estrellas, The Countryside, Untameable, Velvet, Nunc et in Hora and Caronte.
According to Ortega’s IMDb page, he also completed work on the upcoming film Trompeta before his death.
Actor Paco Collado, who played Ortega’s father on the series El pueblo, remembered his former costar on social media, writing he “left us with sympathy, generosity and professionalism.” Collado said it was tragic losing Ortega in “the prime of your youth.”
The Spanish Actors’ Union also posted about Ortega’s death, offering “our most sincere condolences to the actor’s family and friends.”
Ortega’s mother Gloria is also an actress, most recently appearing on Apple TV+’s Land of Women alongside Eva Longoria.