Kenneth John Ortega (born April 18, 1950) is an American producer, director and choreographer. He directed the films Newsies (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008), Michael Jackson\'s This Is It (2009) and the Descendants trilogy (2015–2019). Ortega has choreographed films including St. Elmo\'s Fire (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Ferris Bueller\'s Day Off (1986) and Dirty Dancing (1987). He has also directed multiple concert tours, including tours for Cher, Gloria Estefan and Michael Jackson. In 2019, Ortega was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.\n', 'Ortega was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Madeline, a waitress, and Octavio "Tibby" Ortega, a factory worker. Both of his parents were also born in Palo Alto, though his paternal grandparents were Spanish immigrants. He attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California, where he was a cheerleader.\n', 'Initially, Ortega came out of the San Francisco Arts scene, working with the Tubes. In 1979, Ortega was contracted to work with KISS on their Dynasty Tour. He became more recognized after working with dancer and choreographer Gene Kelly on the film Xanadu, Ortega went on to choreograph the dance for the Menudo video "Hold Me", as well as the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and has won awards for choreography in music videos, such as Madonna\'s "Material Girl". He also worked with The Tubes on their stage shows and directed the video for "She\'s a Beauty". Ortega also did the choreography for Styx\'s "Mr. Roboto" video.\n', '

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