Kat Dennings Reveals Her Real Name: 'This Can't Be Displayed on a Poster'

Mar. 15, 2025

Kat Denningsknew early on she wanted a cool stage name.During the Thursday, March 13 episode of theNot Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelcepodcast, theShifting Gearsstar, 38, shared that she wasn’t even 10 years old when she decided to drop her given name: Katherine Victoria Litwack.“My real last name is Litwack — that’s all you need to hear,” the actress said.“At 9, I was like, ‘This isn’t going to work for me. This is not going to work,’ " the2 Broke Girlsalum told Kelce, 32.Applauding her younger self, Dennings added, “She-slash-I was very ahead of her time.”“It was a CEO situation. I was like, ‘This can’t be displayed on a poster,’ ” the actress joked.She explained how she adopted that last name for her moniker, recalling her mother Ellen Litwack’s good friend Lloyd Alexander, who wrote children’s fantasy books such asThe Chronicles of Prydainseries.Kat Dennings, June 2022.Jon Kopaloff/Getty“Randomly, he was my mother’s best friend,” she said. “So I went there every week until I was 15 years old, and they were like my grandparents, he and his wife. And his wife’s name was Janine Denni, she was French.”The foreign last name left a young Katherine fairly impressed.“And I thought it would be a super sick idea if I took her name and made it different,” she said. “Literally, that was the thinking. That’s as far as it went. So Dennings is from her.”Dennings also explained that choosing her first name wasn’t as simple as abbreviating her own. The actress creditsChristina Ricci’s Kat in the movieCasperas her “favorite character at the time” as the inspiration.“So I was like, ‘Okay, Kat Dennings. This is it, I can really picture it,’ ” she said, adding, “It’s insane.”A few years later, she was already landing significant roles on shows likeSex and the City, however, they didn’t always come easy.Kat Dennings guest stars on ‘Sex and the City’ as Jenny Brier in 2000.HBOEarlier this year,Dennings spoke exclusively to PEOPLEabout how casting directors called her “fat” and not “pretty” when she was just 14.“The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now,” she said in the January 2025 interview. “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.““It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I’m like, ‘How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane,’ " theDollfaceactress said. “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.’ “Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Dennings admitted, “For some reason, it didn’t break my spirit.”Instead, she decided to continue acting despite the criticism.“I was like, ‘I’ll show them,'” she added laughing.Shifting Gearsairs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.

Kat Denningsknew early on she wanted a cool stage name.

During the Thursday, March 13 episode of theNot Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelcepodcast, theShifting Gearsstar, 38, shared that she wasn’t even 10 years old when she decided to drop her given name: Katherine Victoria Litwack.

“My real last name is Litwack — that’s all you need to hear,” the actress said.

“At 9, I was like, ‘This isn’t going to work for me. This is not going to work,’ " the2 Broke Girlsalum told Kelce, 32.

Applauding her younger self, Dennings added, “She-slash-I was very ahead of her time.”

“It was a CEO situation. I was like, ‘This can’t be displayed on a poster,’ ” the actress joked.

She explained how she adopted that last name for her moniker, recalling her mother Ellen Litwack’s good friend Lloyd Alexander, who wrote children’s fantasy books such asThe Chronicles of Prydainseries.

Kat Dennings, June 2022.Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Jon Kopaloff/Getty

“Randomly, he was my mother’s best friend,” she said. “So I went there every week until I was 15 years old, and they were like my grandparents, he and his wife. And his wife’s name was Janine Denni, she was French.”

The foreign last name left a young Katherine fairly impressed.

“And I thought it would be a super sick idea if I took her name and made it different,” she said. “Literally, that was the thinking. That’s as far as it went. So Dennings is from her.”

Dennings also explained that choosing her first name wasn’t as simple as abbreviating her own. The actress creditsChristina Ricci’s Kat in the movieCasperas her “favorite character at the time” as the inspiration.

“So I was like, ‘Okay, Kat Dennings. This is it, I can really picture it,’ ” she said, adding, “It’s insane.”

A few years later, she was already landing significant roles on shows likeSex and the City, however, they didn’t always come easy.

Kat Dennings guest stars on ‘Sex and the City’ as Jenny Brier in 2000.HBO

HBO

Earlier this year,Dennings spoke exclusively to PEOPLEabout how casting directors called her “fat” and not “pretty” when she was just 14.

“The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now,” she said in the January 2025 interview. “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.”

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

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Dennings admitted, “For some reason, it didn’t break my spirit.”

Instead, she decided to continue acting despite the criticism.

“I was like, ‘I’ll show them,'” she added laughing.

Shifting Gearsairs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.

source: people.com