Actress Kat Dennings attends the WB Television Upfront Party on May 15, 2001 at The Lighthouse, Chelsea Piers in New York City; Kat Dennings of Hulu’s ‘Dollface’ poses for a portrait during the 2019 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 26, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.

Kat Denningshas never cared what Hollywood-industry types think about her appearance.

“The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now,” she recalls. “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.”

The2 Broke Girlsalum says casting directors could be “very cruel,” even when they were “talking about a child.”

Kat Dennings (center) on ‘Sex and the City’ in 2000.HBO

Kat Dennings guest star in SATC as Jenny Brier in the 2000 Sex and the City episode titled “Hot Child in the City.

HBO

“It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I’m like, ‘How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane,’ " she says. “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.’ "

The actress admits she had a “very strong” outlook on the negative feedback she’d receive from casting directors. Instead of taking their critiques as gospel, Dennings chose to believe their judgements were wrong.

“That was my attitude. For some reason, it didn’t break my spirit. I was like, ‘I’ll show them,’ " she says with a laugh. “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.’ "

Though Dennings says the entertainment business was “completely insane” back then, she thinks today’s climate is “much softer, kinder” and more understanding.

“There’s body positivity, there’s inclusivity, there’s representation, and there was none of that before. It was really gross,” she adds.

The new sitcom follows Matt (Allen), the widowed owner of a shop that restores classic cars whose estranged daughter Riley (Dennings) and her two kids move back into his home.

Seann William Scott and Kat Dennings on ‘Shifting Gears’.Disney/Raymond Liu

SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT, KAT DENNINGS SHIFTING GEARS Matt, the widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop, is confronted with his most unexpected and challenging project yet when his estranged daughter, Riley, and her adolescent children come crashing back into his life. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8

Disney/Raymond Liu

Before she got the call for the job, Dennings tells PEOPLE, she felt stuck in a “dark, sad moment in time,” feeling lost and unsure of her next move.

“I was like, ‘God, I don’t know what I want to do. I am just feeling so crazy,’ " she recalls. When a friend suggested she think about what her “dream job” looked like, she realized she wanted to do another multi-cam sitcom.

“Then the next day I got this call to do this show. So it felt like I wished for something and I got it. It just felt like a meant-to-be thing,” she continues, adding that working alongside a “cultural mainstay” like Allen was a no-brainer.

“He’s Santa Claus [inThe Santa Clausefilms] and Buzz Lightyear [in theToy Storyfranchise]. 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,” she says of working with the actor.

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Shifting Gearsairs Wednesdays on ABC.

source: people.com