Kat Dennings has said that casting directors called her ‘fat’ and remarked that she was not ‘pretty enough when she was 12.
The Shifting Gears star entered showbiz at the age of nine, appearing in commercials, before she landed her series debut at 14 on an episode of Sex And The City.
Her greatest fame arrived when she was an adult, starring on the sitcom 2 Broke Girls and featuring in a character role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Now, looking back on the early days of her career, the 38-year-old has recalled some of the ‘extremely negative feedback’ she received after auditions.
Noting that the ‘environment’ in showbiz in those days was ‘very harsh,’ she added that casting directors could be ‘very cruel’ even whilst ‘talking about a child.’
‘It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I’m like: “How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane,”‘ she remembered to People.
Kat Dennings has said that casting directors called her ‘fat’ and remarked that she was not ‘pretty enough when she was 12; pictured in 2022
‘For example, I was 12. I’d go into an audition and I’d do it, and my manager would call me and I’d be like: “How’d it go?” And they’d be like: “Well, they thought you weren’t pretty enough and you’re fat,”‘ Kat shared.
‘The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now,’ she noted. ‘There was not a lot of inclusivity at all. It was very harsh. There was a lot of extremely negative feedback and people would not hold back.’
In spite of the venom she received early in her career, she managed to retain a ‘very strong’ mindset and disregarded the criticism as ill-founded.
‘That was my attitude. For some reason, it didn’t break my spirit. I was like: “I’ll show them,.” I guess props to my parents, because they were like: “They’re idiots. Don’t listen to them.” And I was like: “They’re idiots, I’m not.”‘
Kat takes the view that showbiz today is ‘much softer’ and ‘kinder’ than the ‘completely insane’ environment in which she first made her bones.
‘There’s body positivity, there’s inclusivity, there’s representation, and there was none of that before. It was really gross,’ she added.
Her self-belief was ultimately vindicated in 2000, when she landed a scene-stealing part at the age of 14 on an episode of Sex And The City.
Entitled Hot Child In The City, the episode cast Kat as a spoiled preteen who hires the man-eating PR whiz Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) to plan her bat mitzvah.
The Shifting Gears star entered showbiz at the age of nine, appearing in commercials, before she landed her series debut at 14 on an episode of Sex And The City (pictured)
Her greatest fame arrived when she was an adult, starring on the sitcom 2 Broke Girls alongside Beth Behrs from 2011 until 2017
Now, she can be seen on Tim Allen’s (left) new sitcom Shifting Gears (pictured), playing his estranged daughter who reappears in his life
Kat became a sitcom star in her own right by playing one of the title characters on 2 Broke Girls, a hit show that ran on CBS from 2011 to 2017.
Created by comedian Whitney Cummings and Sex And The City showrunner Michael Patrick King, the show starred Kat alongside Beth Behrs as two women from opposite backgrounds who wind up in the same low income bracket working at a diner.
Kat also featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the comic relief role of Darcy, the best friend of the Natalie Portman character in the Thor films.
Now, she can be seen on Tim Allen’s new sitcom Shifting Gears, playing his estranged daughter who reappears in his life.
