The Stunning Transformation Of Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings' transformation has been nothing short of stunning. The talented star started acting as a child, having fallen in love with the medium thanks to Steve Martin. "Steve Martin was the thing that happened to me as a kid that made me want to be whatever he does," she told Buzzfeed. "I think I saw 'The Jerk' when I was really young and it completely, like, changed my brain chemistry ... I just kept getting his movies from the library and watching them over and over," she recalled.

But while Dennings' rise to the A-List didn't quite follow the same path as her idol, she's well on her way to becoming an on-screen legend like the beloved comedian and actor. Her roles in "Thor," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "2 Broke Girls" have entertained millions around the world, taking this household name from a young hopeful to a bona fide movie and TV star. From a surname change (did you know Kat Dennings isn't her real name?), to Marvel fame, to flexing her executive producer muscles, this celeb's journey to stardom is truly a sight to behold.

Katherine Victoria Litwack was born in Philadelphia in 1986, but she didn't exactly have a traditional childhood. The little girl who would eventually go by Kat Dennings (more to come on that) was a wild child with a deep passion for the outdoors. "I basically grew up in the woods. There were deer on my lawn. It was totally awesome. That's why I'm so socially weird," she told Philadelphia City Life in 2008.

Dennings, who has two older brothers, was homeschooled, having turned her back on regular schooling after just one day in the classroom. "I couldn't handle it," she told Backstage of attending public school. The "Big Momma's House 2" actor explained to Philadelphia City Life her classmates made fun of her and she didn't thrive around other kids. "I remember feeling so stupid, and I thought, f**k this. I'm going back to the woods," she said. After a few years being taught by her parents, the youngster took control of her own schooling and graduated aged 14. "I just couldn't deal with being in the tiny room with my parents anymore. But it worked great," she said during a Complex cover story.

As well as taking the reigns on her education, Dennings was also ready to kickstart her career. Much like the transformation of Lindsay Lohan from child star to A-Lister, acting called her name young because the lifestyle fit her personality. "I'm just a person who needs a lot of structure in a certain way, but I can't handle structure for a long time," she explained to Backstage.

Around 1995, Katherine Litwack began acting in commercials. But the youngster had much bigger ambitions than the odd ad. At around 10, she told her mom she wanted to appear in a remake of "The Exorcist." Although she was met with some pushback, the future star eventually convinced her mother to let her audition, and she prepared by watching the original horror movie. But the innocent little girl was freaked out by the scary scenes and had to turn it off. "I never watched ['The Exorcist'] and to this day I've still never seen it because that scarred me for life. So, I went into the audition being like, I'm gonna do my own thing. It was... not good. If the tape exists, don't release it. Please," she joked to Buzzfeed, admitting she wore a feather boa to her audition.

Failed horror movie audition aside, Dennings' career was beginning to take off, so she decided it was time for a new moniker. "I didn't want to use my family name because I thought, A, it was a little hideous, and B, I wanted to know when someone really knew me or they didn't. I was a precocious youngster," she told Philadelphia City Life. And, with that, Kat Dennings was officially born.

But as she got her foot in the door, she faced the reality of life in the spotlight when she received brutal comments from people in the industry. "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," she told People, recalling hearing nasty comments about her appearance and weight at 12-years-old.

By 2000, Kat Dennings was well on her way to becoming a household name. She landed her first major acting gig on one of the biggest shows at the time – "Sex and the City." Not that she knew that. "I auditioned for it. I was like, 'What a weird show. What a weird title,'" she later recalled on "The View," admitting she didn't know anything about the saucy series because she was only 13. But she soon learned how big the Sarah Jessica Parker led show was. "On the way home, on the train, we saw a building — like, a 'Sex and the City' billboard across the whole building," she said. Dennings got the role and appeared in a single Season 3 episode.

Not long after, she landed her first major recurring role in the comedy "Raising Dad." The teen actor was cast alongside the late Bob Saget, who played her dad, and divine feminine energy book lover Brie Larson. The show aired a single season between 2001 and 2002, but Dennings wasn't quite ready to uproot her life in Philadelphia for the bright lights of Hollywood. "We still lived in Pennsylvania, so they flew me out with my mom and we did the pilot and then we went home," Dennings told The Hollywood Reporter, recalling she returned to Los Angeles to film the season once it got the green light. "I remember having an amazing time," she shared.

But with a rapidly rising star, Dennings knew it was time to relocate. In 2002, she moved to L.A. to further pursue her acting career — and that's when things really started to take off.

Though "Raising Dad" didn't get picked up for a second season, there were bigger things on the horizon for Kat Dennings. In 2004, she lived every teen girl's dream when she made her big screen debut in the Hilary Duff movie "Raise Your Voice." After that, she got a recurring gig on "ER" between 2005 and 2006 and appeared in an episode of "CSI: NY." Then came two of her biggest movie roles to date. She appeared in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" as Marla, the daughter of Steve Carell's character's love interest, and had a starring role alongside Michael Cera in 2008's "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist," which firmly put the spotlight on her.

Although she felt the natural struggles of transitioning from a child to an adult, Dennings thrived on set where many young actors struggled. "It was difficult to transition from just a child to an adult ... It's so hard just growing up any way that being an actor on top of it, it's just so much," she told Backstage. But she noted, "I was a very dramatic theatrical kid who just was a weirdo and I wasn't very social with other kids. I liked being with adults. So for me it was the ideal place to grow up."

Kat Dennings was already a huge name by 2010, but her status was about to get even bigger. The actor joined the Marvel universe when she landed a gig in "Thor" alongside Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, and Anthony Hopkins. Dennings role as Darcy Lewis was initially intended to be smaller, but the star's infectious personality and bond with Portman (whose favorite books prove she's one of the smartest people in Hollywood) meant she got more airtime than planned. "My part, Darcy, was originally, like, two scenes ... she was literally just an intern, just there to kind of bounce off other people. It was the best day of my life. I could not believe these people hired me and like I duped them somehow into hiring me," she recalled on the "Keep It!" podcast.

During rehearsals, Portman (who she'd been friends with for a while) sat on Dennings' lap, and their closeness caught the attention of the Marvel execs. "I think our friendship started to infect them, with its purity and love. Slowly, Darcy became a little more involved, and I was like, 'Why are they adding me to scenes?' That's kind of what happened, if I'm being honest, friendship magic is the reason I'm here today," she added. Dennings would go on to reprise the role several times, including in the mini-series "WandaVision" and the sequel movie "Thor: Love and Thunder." By the time the first "Thor" hit theatres though, Dennings had another iconic role in the works as she returned to TV.

Kat Dennings landed another sitcom in 2011. Things came full circle when she signed on the dotted line to appear in "2 Broke Girls," which was co-written and executive produced by Michael Patrick King, who previously worked on "Sex and the City." But this was no single episode role, as King told GQ he was desperate to get Dennings on board to play the main role of Max. "I don't think there's anybody else like her so we basically hunted her down for this. She has a kind of amazing outsider edge. It made everything else fall into place," he said. "2 Broke Girls" became a hit for Dennings and her co-star Beth Behrs, winning an Emmy (as well as receiving 12 nominations) during its six-season run.

But the actor enjoyed more than just a regular job with "2 Broke Girls." She sparked up a romance with her co-star Nick Zanon and gushed over their romance to Glamour. "Yes! I have nothing to hide! It's the truth!" she replied when asked if the dating rumors were true. "He's the best! I didn't know him before the show," she added. The two split in 2014 — but Dennings wasn't alone for long.

That same year, she embarked on a high-profile romance with singer Josh Groban. They made their red carpet debut in October 2014, when a source told E! News, "They were so cute together! They were adorable on the carpet. She was whispering in his ear a lot and they seemed really happy." Groban spoke to "Extra" about his then-girlfriend that same month, revealing Behrs, who was a mutual friend of both, introduced them. "She played matchmaker," he said with a smile.

Though acting had been Kat Dennings focus since she was a kid, she tried a new career move in 2019. The star became an executive producer on the Hulu comedy "Dollface" after being offered the job by fellow executive producer and one of our favorite method dressers, Margot Robbie. "The executive producer thing was SO exciting for me. It felt very long earned because, you know, this is my 25th year of working ... You learn a lot as you go, just like in any job, but I felt really ready for that responsibility," Dennings, who also starred in the series, told Buzzfeed. "I was very heavily involved and it felt really right. It's so much fun taking on this role too, and I really enjoy it," she added. "Dollface" ran for two seasons, but was cancelled in 2022.

That wasn't all the in-demand celebrity was up to though, as she only got busier. While pulling double duty with "Dollface," she also geared up for the release of the 2020 movie "Friendsgiving," which she appeared in with Malin Akerman and Jane Seymour.

The world slowed down when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, and Kat Dennings used her unexpected downtime to reconnect with her family and friends after decades of hard work. "I'm in my thirties now and I've been working my whole life almost. My life has been my job, my career, and work, work, work ... My life had been focused on that for so long," she explained to Glamour U.K. The actor added, "I don't see my loved ones as much as I would want so I've certainly taken advantage of that." She shared she'd formed a social bubble with her brother, sister-in-law, and their baby, and was able to spend more time with them.

The star kept fans updated amid the unprecedented time on social media, sharing Instagram uploads that showed her practicing her gardening skills. "I started a garden and I had been wanting to do that ever since I moved here. I never had the time, or I never made the time before," she said. Dennings planted flower seeds in one wholesome Instagram video, joking in the caption, "Let the life get sucked out of you with #gardening knowledge." She even kept fans entertained with giveaways to win gardening tools. 

Though life may have slowed down amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Kat Dennings' love life still thrived. Musician Andrew W.K. announced they were dating in May 2021 while confirming his split and subsequent divorce from his estranged wife. "Andrew W.K. has recently begun dating actor Kat Dennings. The two met earlier this year in Los Angeles," a press release stated (via Exclaim). "Andrew W.K. and his ex-wife, Cherie Lily, began amicable divorce proceedings in late 2019," it added.

Dennings and her man didn't take things slow, either. Just days after their relationship went public, the couple made it clear they were in it for the long haul. She shared photos of her engagement ring and them kissing on Instagram, writing, "Don't mind if I do." The couple simultaneously proposed to each other in their kitchen, and the actor gushed on "The Drew Barrymore Show," "We had a special moment that makes me believe in magic. I was like, 'This is my person. This is it. I can't live without him. This is the man I'm supposed to be with.' And we looked at each other, and we both proposed at the same time." Adorable.

Dennings and Andrew W.K. tied the knot at their home in November 2023. "We realized that a small home wedding was too cozy to resist," she told Vogue, confirming they didn't have a traditional A-list ceremony with hundreds of guests and staff and she tried some DIY wedding tips instead. "I even handmade all of our wedding florals, aisle pieces, and our ceremony arch, which took three entire days. I wanted to be hands-on with the entire experience and feel like we had built our moment together from scratch," the creative bride said.

Though happily married and back in the swing of work, Kat Dennings experienced a difficult period before working alongside Tim Allen in the ABC comedy "Shifting Gears," which debuted in January 2025. "[It was a] dark, sad moment in time," she told People. "I was like, 'God, I don't know what I want to do. I am just feeling so crazy.'" The star also spoke candidly with The Flow Space about struggling with migraines for years, sharing that like many women, it took her a long time to get an adequate diagnosis and care. "I've pushed through so much migraine pain that no one even knew about. People probably just thought I was in a bad mood," she said.

Around the same time, Dennings got back to her sitcom roots. She was offered the role of Allen's character's estranged daughter in "Shifting Gears" — and the rest is history. "Tim Allen, I will say, is my favorite TV dad of all time. It's been a real joy doing this show," Dennings said to People. "We have a very funny banter. We really enjoy these scenes where we're arguing. It's really fun."

But while Dennings is still working hard in front of the camera, she also has big ambitions behind it. "I don't really talk that much about it, but I write, and directing is on the horizon one day. Directing is something I really want to do," she told Movieline. And we're certain we'll see this talented superstar make her other dream a reality, because Dennings' inspiring career has proven there's nothing she can't do.