Image is everything in showbiz, but Kat Dennings is grateful things aren’t the way they used to be.
In an interview with People magazine published Thursday, the 38-year-old actress and Two Broke Girls alum talked about her early acting days and Hollywood’s “cruel” approach to body image in the early 2000s. I looked back on culture.
“When I auditioned and started acting, it was a very different environment than it is now,” Dennings told the magazine. “There was no inclusivity at all. It was very harsh. There was a lot of very negative feedback and people didn’t hold back.”
Dennings landed her first television role at age 14 when she guest-starred on HBO’s “Sex and the City” in September 2000, playing Jenny Bryer. The following year, she played the lead role in the Bob Saget-led comedy “Raging Dad.” . ”
“For example, I was 12 years old, and I went to an audition and I got in, and my manager called me and was like, “How was it?” And they said, “Well. , they would think you weren’t pretty enough and you were fat,” Dennings recalled.
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“It was pretty crazy when I thought about it. I thought, ‘How can you say that about a little kid? This is insane,'” she added.
Despite the harsh criticism, Dennings said she did not allow the commentary to “break her spirit.”
“I was like, ‘I’ll show you,'” Dennings said with a laugh. “I think it’s because my parents told me, ‘They’re stupid. Don’t listen to them.’ And I was like, ‘They’re stupid, but I’m not stupid.'”
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Following supporting roles in the films “Raise Your Voice” (2004), “The 40 Year Old Virgin” (2005), and “The House Bunny” (2008), he has appeared on television in “CSI: NY” and “The House Bunny” (2008). ER,” Dennings found her breakout role in 2008’s “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist.” The teen romantic comedy grossed $33.6 million worldwide.
Dennings returned to sitcoms in the early 2010s, starring opposite Beth Bears in the CBS workplace comedy 2 Broke Girls. The Emmy Award-winning series ran for six seasons from 2011 to 2017.
The actress currently co-stars on ABC’s “Shifting Gears” with “Home Improvement” alum and longtime TV dad Tim Allen.
In an interview with People magazine, Dennings reflected on how the entertainment industry has dramatically changed its attitude towards body image, noting that the cultural climate has become “softer, kinder” and more understanding. .
“There’s body positivity, there’s inclusivity, there’s representation, and we didn’t have any of that before,” Dennings said. “It was really bad.”