Kat Dennings, best known for her role in 2 Broke Girls, recently shared her experience with the tough and sometimes cruel nature of Hollywood casting during her childhood. Reflecting on her early days in the industry, she recalled a time when the atmosphere surrounding auditions was far from inclusive and supportive.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Dennings explained, “The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now. 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.”
Having appeared in major projects like Sex and the City and The 40-Year-Old Virgin as a teenager, Dennings reflected on the “very cruel” comments she received from casting directors. She shared a particularly painful memory from when she was just 12 years old: “I’d go into an audition, and my manager would call me afterward. I’d ask, 'How’d it go?' and they’d say, 'Well, they thought you weren’t pretty enough, and you’re fat.'"
Despite the harshness of the feedback, Dennings revealed that the comments didn’t crush her spirit. “For some reason, it didn’t break my spirit. I was like, ‘I’ll show them,’” she said. She credited her parents for helping her navigate these tough experiences. “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.’”
Looking back, Dennings couldn’t believe the kind of feedback she received as a young girl. “It was pretty crazy, thinking about it,” she admitted. “I’m like, ‘How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane.’”
The actress, who has been part of the industry for years, acknowledged that casting in Hollywood has evolved significantly since then. “It’s much softer, kinder,” she said. “There’s body positivity, there’s inclusivity, there’s representation, and there was none of that before. It was really gross.”
Dennings also touched on her latest project, Shifting Gears, an ABC sitcom that stars Tim Allen. She described working with Allen, who played Santa Claus and Buzz Lightyear, as a surreal experience. “He’s a big part of my consciousness growing up, so it was very surreal to work with him, but in a great way, because he’s a very kind person.”
This new show came at a pivotal time in Dennings’ career. She recalled feeling uncertain about her next steps: “I was like, ‘God, I don’t know what I want to do. I am just feeling so crazy.’” But just the next day, she received the call for Shifting Gears. “It felt like I wished for something and I got it. It just felt like a meant-to-be thing.”
Dennings’ story is a powerful reminder of how far Hollywood has come in terms of body positivity, inclusivity, and representation, but also of the personal resilience required to thrive in an industry that can be unforgiving.