The Transformation Of Kat Dennings From 9 To 35 Years Old
Everybody loves a good glow up. And though her aesthetic has maintained the same striking, gothic sensibilities as when she was younger, the transformation of Kat Dennings from childhood to adulthood has nonetheless seen the star embracing her power, flourishing in more polished looks, and flexing her professional success in increasingly fabulous ways. A proud Hollywood outlier, Dennings once proudly referred to herself as “a weird one” while in conversation with GQ and suggested that her obsessive nature and love of “weird influential movies” might have something to do with that. Whatever the reason, Dennings has (thankfully) never changed herself for an industry which can all too often demand its women fit particular looks, personalities, shapes, and sizes. Throughout her career, the actor has experimented with her looks and performances, but has never compromised who she is for it.
On the red carpet, this is embodied by the old-school Hollywood glamor that Dennings has repeatedly leaned on to celebrate her curves. Speaking to InStyle, she suggested that her love of vintage looks came from trying on dresses “from the 1940s and 1950s” and discovering that they fit her “curvier shape” perfectly. “I figured out in that moment, ‘Fine, I belong in this style. It feels like I am included in this.'” And she has been ever since.
Have your sharpest and most deadpan quips at the ready — and for the love of goth, assume your most dramatic, black-clad pose — because this is the transformation of Kat Dennings from 9 to 35 years old.
Kat Dennings and her Addams Family values
Like many of Tinseltown’s finest, Pennsylvania native Kat Dennings spent her entire childhood vying for stardom. As she explained to Backstage, she was “that kid who just wouldn’t stop hounding her parents to let her try acting,” but mom and dad wouldn’t let her give it a go until she was “nine and a half.” The family didn’t have the bank to be throwing cash at acting lessons for the young star-in-the-making. Instead, she did the “thing of learning as you go.”
She told Backstage she subsequently “paid her dues” starring in a bunch of commercials, or clocking in “triple overtime” as an acting extra, which might explain her delightfully unique acting style which feels naturalistic and effortlessly droll. But her childhood would also help to shape her distinctive public persona too. As she related to Philadelphia, she “basically grew up in the woods” which she credits as to why she’s “so socially weird” as an adult.
What’s more, as she said in an interview with AV Club, she “grew up in a haunted house” and was essentially “raised by ghosts.” Evidently, she embraced the spooky vibes. As Dennings said on a 2014 episode of “Conan,” she was something of a goth kid who was “very dramatic” and “obsessed with ‘The Addams Family'” to such a degree that she’d often tell people her name was Wednesday and sleep with her arms crossed like the character — which is a relatable origin story for every overgrown goth.
A guest spot and the city launched Kat Dennings’ career
After landing commercial after commercial, Kat Dennings finally scored her first TV role as a precocious pre-teen who hires Kim Cattrall’s Samantha to plan her bat mitzvah on “Sex and the City.” As she told Backstage, it was the role that gave her the opportunity to move to Los Angeles with her mom. And once they got there, she never left.
Though the HBO dramedy was a huge hit, Denning told The Hollywood Reporter her family “didn’t have cable” and subsequently “had no idea what the show was.” The actor noted that on reflection the role “was obviously really inappropriate for me at that age,” though it’s arguably this aspect which only highlighted Dennings’ burgeoning talent. Her performance was wise beyond her years, and her depiction of a catty, bratty teenager showcased a wit which managed to maintain pace with that of an acting powerhouse like Cattrall.
Thus, a star was officially born. In the years to come, Dennings would spend her teens continuing to oil her acting training wheels with Hollywood-starter-pack roles in things like “Without a Trace,” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and a single season of the short-lived sitcom “Raising Dad,” in which starred opposite Bob Saget and future Marvel Cinematic Universe gal pal Brie Larson. Sure, it got cancelled, but it didn’t matter — she was on the verge of bigger things.
Kat Dennings broke into the Tinseltown big leagues
By the time she’d turned 18, Kat Dennings had finally landed the big screen hit she deserved, playing a hormonal angsty teenager desperate to lose her virginity in Judd Apatow’s “40 Year-Old Virgin.” As she recalled to The Hollywood Reporter, the project was “such a cool film to be in” especially because it was the “first … big thing” for many members of the cast and crew, including herself.
