Jane the Virgin Trivia | 40 facts about the series

“Jane the Virgin” is an interesting rom-com, with a really weird, yet joyful plot, that aired on CW, but is also available on Netflix.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Jane the Virgin is an American romantic comedy-drama and satirical telenovela.
2. It was developed by Jennie Snyder Urman
3. . The series premiered October 13, 2014 on The CW.
4. It concluded on July 31, 2019.
5. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen created by Perla Farías.
6. It stars Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva.
7. Jane Villanueva is a devout 23-year-old Latina virgin who becomes pregnant after an accidental artificial insemination by her gynecologist.
8. It parodies common tropes and devices in Latin American telenovelas.
9. Jane the Virgin received critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and Rodriguez’s performance.
10. At the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, Jane the Virgin was nominated for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Gina Rodriguez won Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
11. The show received a Peabody Award in 2014.
12. It was also selected as one of the top 10 television programs of 2014 by the American Film Institute.
13. Beginning with the fourth episode of season three, the series’s on-screen title card was modified, with “The Virgin” crossed out in favor of a substitution corresponding to each episode.
14. This mirrored the storyline, in which Jane is no longer a virgin
15. It was the first show in The CW history to earn a Golden Globe nomination
16. While the Villanueva family came from Venezuela to the United States, all 3 actresses are of Puerto Rican background.
17. In Season 2 Episode 1, Justin Baldoni’s (Rafael) wife and daughter, Emily and Maiya, make a cameo in the lactation class scene.
18. In real life Andrea Navedo (Xo) is only 7 years older than Gina Rodriguez (Jane). They play mother and daughter on the show. Navedo’s character was 16 when she became pregnant with Rodriguez’s character.
19. Gina Rodriguez won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television series (comedy or musical) for Jane the Virgin
20. The Merrell twins from YouTube play Rogelio’s step-daughters.
21. Rita Moreno (Liliana De La Vega) and Justina Machado (Darci Factor) both star on the Netflix show One Day At A Time, as mother and daughter.
22. On Jane, Rita plays Rogelio’s mother and Justina plays his baby mama.
23. In keeping with the baby theme, a lot of scenes in Season One feature furnishings, decor and character attire in hues of baby pink and/or blue.
24. In April 2018, the show’s creators confirmed the series would end after Season 5, however, the series itself had already confirmed this several months earlier.
25. In Season 4, Episode 3, Rogelio complains that a new character can’t be introduced “three-fifths” of the way through the show which is a reference to the introduction of the Adam character.
26. At the beginning of Season 4, Jane the Virgin was exactly three-fifths of the way through it’s 5-season run.
27. Justin Baldoni’s and Brett Dier’s Characters (Rafael and Michael) are sort of enemies. In real life, Justin and Brett are good friends.
28. Rogelios last name “De La Vega” is the same as the love interest in telenovela “Juana la virgen” of which Jane the virgin is a loose adaptation of.
29. However De La Vega in the original is the owner of a magazine and more comparable to Rafael
30. Brooke Shields’ character’s name, River Fields, is a play on her real name, as a river and a brook are both bodies of water, and shields rhymes with fields.
31. Before starring in Jane the Virgin, Yael Grobglas (Petra Solano) briefly starred in another CW show, Reign, as Olivia, Francis’s (Toby Regbo) ex-lover in season 1.
32. Ivonne Coll (Alba) and Tyler Posey (Adam) worked on a project before this. Ivonne guest starred on a few episodes of Tyler’s show, Teen Wolf (2011).
33. Brad Silberling directed both the first and last episode of the show.
34. Spanish speaking soap operas are divided into chapters, not episodes like Hollywood TV shows. And unlike episodes, chapters do not have titles. They are refer to as “First Chapter”, “Chapter 2”, etc. Given this sitcom is based in a Venezuelan soap, it might explain why the episodes are titled “Chapter Two”, “Chapter Three” and so on.
35. Jaime Camil did his own dubbing in the Latin American Spanish dubbing version of “Jane the Virgin”.4
36. 100 chapters is the average running of a spanish speaking telenovela. If the telenovela turns out to be succesful, they add more chapters. If it is a failure, chapters are cut.
37. Eden Sher (Pond “PJ” Fields) and Brooke Shields (River Fields) play mother and daughter on this show but on The Middle, Sher stars as Sue Heck and Shields guest stars as the mother of the Glossner boys, the neighborhoods trouble makers.
38. There is debate if the English speaking soap opera and the spanish speaking telenovela are different genres or the same. But for translation purposes only “soap opera” is translated into spanish either as “telenovela” or “culebrón” (literal meaning “huge snake”).
39. Pronunciation of the name “Xiomara” as “Shiomara” is not so common among spanish speakers. “Siomara” is more widely spread.
40. The book Jane writes “Snow Falling” is a book you can actually buy and read.