Kat Dennings reveals the awful phrases directors used to call her at just 12 years old

Kat Dennings has detailed the awful and 'insane' phrases directors used to call her after she broke into the industry as a child.

The 38-year-old has starred as Max Black in 2 Broke Girls and Darcy Lewis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, with her latest project, ABC's Shifting Gears, also seeing her take on a leading role.

While Dennings is a highly successful actor, it doesn't meant her career hasn't seen any bumps along the way.

Sitting down with PEOPLE Magazine, the actor spoke about how she learnt to ignore her critics from a very young age.

Kate Dennings burst onto the scene at a young age (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

"The time that I was auditioning and starting to act, it was a very different environment than it is now," she told the outlet. "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."

The actor then went on to reveal what some directors would end up calling her from a young age, something she described as 'very cruel'.

She continued: "It was pretty crazy thinking about it. I'm like, 'How can anyone say that about a little kid? This is insane'. 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'."

Rather than taking those awful phrases to heart, Dennings decided their judgements were wrong, and good on her really!

"That was my attitude. For some reason, it didn't break my spirit. I was like, 'I'll show them'," she added.

"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'."

Dennings was called some awful names by directors (David Livingston/Getty Images)

Dennings said times were pretty bad back then, but admitted the industry is certainly 'much softer' nowadays, in her opinion.

"There's body positivity, there's inclusivity, there's representation, and there was none of that before. It was really gross," she added.

In her new venture, the actor stars alongside Tim Allen on Shifting Gears, which sees Matt (Allen) reunited with his estranged daughter Riley (Dennings).

"He's Santa Claus [The Santa Clause films] and Buzz Lightyear," Dennings said of Allen to People.

"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."