Biography
Date of Birth
13 December 1986, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Birth Name
Katherine Victoria Litwack
Height
5' 4½" (1.64 m)
Mini Biography
Kat Dennings was born Katherine Victoria Litwack in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, to Ellen (Schatz), a speech therapist and poet, and Gerald Litwack, a molecular pharmacologist. She is the youngest of five children. Her family is of Russian Jewish descent. Kat was predominantly home-schooled, graduating at the age of fourteen. Her family subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California to support Kat acting full-time.
After work doing commercials, she began work in television, starting with a role on HBO's Sex and the City (1998), following up with roles on Raising Dad (2001), The Scream Team (2002), Everwood (2002), Without a Trace (2002) and ER (1994), among others.
Kat made the move to the big screen with supporting roles in Raise Your Voice (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Big Momma's House 2 (2006). She later achieved a level of fame with roles in The House Bunny (2008) and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).
Kat continues to act in feature films and is an avid video blogger. Since 2011, she has starred with Beth Behrs in the CBS television series 2 Broke Girls (2011).
Trivia
Kat, who portrays Bob Saget's oldest daughter on Raising Dad (2001), was born on the same day and in the same year (June 13, 1986) as Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, who portrayed Saget's youngest daughter on Full House (1987).
She was originally cast as Laynie Hart on Everwood (2002), but the role was recast for unknown reasons. It later went to Nora Zehetner.
Most of the characters she plays tend to be "rebellious daughters" around 15 or 16.
Ranked #55 on Interview magazine's Hollywood faces to watch "Future Stars of Tomorrow".
Took piano lessons for her role as Sloane in Raise Your Voice (2004).
Youngest of five children. Father is a molecular pharmacologist. Mother is a poet and speech therapist. Both are Jewish.
Of her family members, she has a mother named Ellie, a father named Gerald, a brother named Geoffrey, and a sister named Debbie.
Is best friends with her 2 Broke Girls (2011) co-star Beth Behrs.
Her favorite television series: Smallville (2001), South Park (1997), The Osbournes (2002), Absolutely Fabulous (1992), Roswell (1999), Dawson's Creek (1998), Neighbours (1985), That '70s Show (1998), The Simpsons (1989).
Is good friends with Evan Rachel Wood.
Ranked #16 in People magazine's "25 Beauties (and Hotties) at 25" list in 2011.
Ranked #30 in Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2012.
Ranked #97 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2012 list.
Named as one of the "most desirable" famous women for 2013 in Ask men's list of top 99 "most desirable" women.
Kat and Josh Groban have been in a relationship since October 2014-2016.
She performed the song "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" in Charlie Bartlett (2007).
Her mother, Ellie Judith Litwack, is a poet and speech therapist while her dad, Gerald J. Litwack, is a molecular pharmacologist, biochemist, and former Associate Dean for Scientific Affairs at Thomas Jefferson University. Kat is the youngest among five siblings.
After getting four aces during a poker game with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennie Garth, Kat got the poker name, "Four Aces Dennings.".
When she has time away from work, Kat likes to video blog. She even did one for the Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) DVD.
Kat is 5' 4½" (164 cm) tall. She has dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Kat loves all animals and can't pick a favorite. She also loves Shojo Manga.
One of her big passions in life is writing. In 2009, Kat co-wrote a screenplay with her brother.
For her movie Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008), Kat was nominated for a Satellite Award in the category Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical in 2008 and an MTV Award for Breakthrough Performance Female in 2009.
Kat is ranked No.33 in AIM.com's "100 Celebs Under 25." She has also been listed among Moviefone's Hottest 25 stars under the age of 25.
Her first acting job was appearing in a potato chips commercial for Orleans low fat crisps.
Trademarks:
Often plays rebellious characters with a sarcastic sense of humor
Dark lipstick and pale skin
Blue eyes and full pouty lips
Curvaceous, buxom figure
Deadpan delivery
Distinctive husky voice
Quotes
There's nothing else I would rather do, unless there was a profession that involved cuddling bunny rabbits and kittens all day for money.
I've basically made a career out of my imagination. I feel very lucky.
(on Charlie Bartlett (2007)) I think it's an important movie for teenagers to see. There was a time when I thought I was crazy but really I was just a teenager. It's important to realize you're not the only person going through it.
I've had people tell me to get Mystic Tan, blonde highlights, choppy haircuts, but I've made a conscious decision not to cave.
I don't take crap from anyone, so that makes people think I'm rebellious. I'm not. I'm just not a pushover.
[on not going to night clubs] Ugh, you can't even talk in those places. Plus, I don't drink and I don't smoke and I don't like being around people who do.
[on her the writers pulling from her dramatic chops for her character Max in 2 Broke Girls (2011)] The show's not just a ha-ha machine,... ...I grew up watching The Golden Girls (1985), The Nanny (1993) I want to bring the sitcom back.
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.
[on a photo of her in "Vanity Fair"] [laughs] Clearly. I spend all my time drinking highballs on lawn chairs. It looks glamorous, but that shoot was mostly spent laughing, shivering or screaming. [laughs] Any glamorous moment you might mistake me for having is always pretend.
[in a 2008 interview; "here" referring to Los Angeles] Shit is crazy out here. I tried being anorexic for four hours, and then I was like, I need some bagels. I'll never feel comfortable in L.A., really. I knew these nice girls that lived in the Valley. I had no idea they were on meth. They don't realize this is the worst possible thing you can do to yourself.
[on her favorite film character] Probably Phil Connors from Groundhog Day (1993). Bill Murray's one of my favorite actors. I think I've watched that movie over 300 times and could watch it another 300 times... today.
[on what is hip for her] It is an important part of your anatomy. Don't break it as you get older because if you do it's kind of curtains. I just broke a wire coat-hanger at my house. As it happened I was thinking, 'I'm talented at breaking stuff.' I dropped my first iPod thousands of times and it only really conked out last year.
[in a 2008 interview] I've never taken any acting classes. I took an acting class when I first started acting when I was 10. The guy who owned the school told me I would never be an actress and I should stop immediately. I deduced that he didn't know what he was talking about and left.
[on What led her to make a weekly TV series commitment] this literally fell into my lap... ...TV wasn't something I had intended to do, but when this came, and it was Whitney Cummings and Michael Patrick King, with Michael giving me my first big job, it almost seemed like a gift, at just the right time. I was like, "God, this is exactly the answer to everything I've been wanting." I'm just really lucky that this came along.
I can say that I had a particularly painful teenage-hood. I felt pretty alienated most of the time because I wanted to become an actress from an early age and was made fun of relentlessly.
I can't imagine wanting to be famous just for the sake of being famous. I think fame should come along with success, talent.
When I was younger there was a lot of discouraging talk: lose weight. Color your hair. Straighten your teeth. Get a tan. But I'm a firm believer in everyone being born with what they need to be attractive. In all sorts of ways. And I don't really feel like I want to change that much by myself.
[on what her soul looks like] A moose with a hat on wearing a polka dot bikini sitting atop a barn of dreams.
[on if she was hesitant to do a TV role] I'm just in a really lucky place where I've gotten to work with amazing film people and amazing directors, like Kenneth Branagh, and amazing casts. This is just something different. It's something cool and new, that I haven't gotten to do before. If this goes for eight years, I'll be thrilled. I love who I'm working with. I love this show because it's real. It's more like a half-hour movie than a half-hour sitcom. It's very fresh.
I was born knowing I was going to be an actress. When I'm not feeling that great, I can morph into somebody else and experience their emotions instead, which actually helps me deal a lot better with my own.
[in case she achieves superstar status] If it were to happen, I don't think anything would really change about me. [looks and nods at the pyjamas she's wearing] I'd just, finally, put on some normal clothes and go outside.
