You should get to know Kat Dennings. From her role as a vapid teenager in The 40-Year-Old Virgin to her breakout turn as Michael Cera’s jaded dream girl in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, the soon-to-be-25-year-old actress is fast becoming one of Hollywood’s hottest young commodities.

After growing up in the woods of Bryn Mawr, the homeschooled beauty made her way to Hollywood, where she honed her untrained acting chops on the small screen with bit parts in ER, CSI: and Sex and the City. She soon graduated to film, where her innate cheekiness won over audiences in Virgin, The House Bunny and, of course, Nick and Norah.

Today Dennings is busier than ever, shuffling between an incongruous mix of dark drama, outrageous comedy and even a giant blockbuster. She’s currently delving into the lead role for Renee—its namesake, Renee Yohe, the inspiration behind the nonprofit addiction-and depression-treatment organization To Write Love on Her Arms.

Meanwhile she’s anxiously awaiting this month’s release of Thor, her first foray into big-budget Hollywood, costarring good bud Natalie Portman. She’s even back on the small screen, signing on with UPenn alum Whitney Cummings to star in the comedy pilot Two Broke Girls. Somewhere in between takes, she sat down and talked to Philadelphia Style about eschewing industry norms, her obsession with Twitter and endearing childhood memories of Philly.

Tell us about growing up in Bryn Mawr.
KAT DENNINGS: I grew up in the sticks; we lived on a hill in the woods. I seriously had such an amazing Laura Ingalls Wilder childhood. There were a lot of wood activities, playing with the horses, doing farm-girl stuff. Talking about it makes me sad! I look back and I’m like, Why didn’t I take more pictures?

What do you miss most?
KD: I hope it’s still there, but there’s a place called The Head Nut. I have such fond memories of that place. And I always hung out at Wynnewood Lanes and Flower Mill Park.

Do you ever make it back here?
KD: I still have some family there, and we try to head back for the holidays.

Did you always know that acting was something you wanted to do?
KD: Since I saw my first movie when I was a baby. I really didn’t know what it was, but I knew that whatever movies were, that’s what I wanted to do. We went to an actual theater only once every six months, but we would just check out movies from the library—classics like An American in Paris, Madeline Kahn movies and Steve Martin movies. I was spoiled; I had a great film education.

Do you feel more like a Hollywood insider or outsider?
KD: I’m kind of outside the culture of my job. I don’t really enjoy the schmoozing, the parties—it’s not really my thing. I love the people, but I would just rather get coffee than get all dressed up to go to a restaurant that nobody wants to be at.

You had been in a bunch of movies before you broke out with Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. What was the best part of that experience?
KD: It was really a collaborative experience, and it taught me you can speak up and talk, which I couldn’t do before that. And the friendships—it was like camp. It’s like watching home video of you and your friends, only hopefully, it’s not as annoying.

It was just announced that you’re doing a pilot called Two Broke Girls with Whitney Cummings. There seems to be a trend lately of feature-film actors jumping into TV pilots—what made you take this role?
KD: First of all, I’m kind of obsessed with Whitney! But TV? It’s super weird and not something I ever really considered, but [executive producer] Michael Patrick King is the nicest person you could ever meet. I worked on Sex and the City with him when I was 12, and he has been a force in my head ever since. Once I saw it was his show, I was like, Whoa, this might be an interesting, kind of amazing thing to do. I literally read it, thought about it for two seconds, and then said yes.

You’re now playing Renee Yohe, the inspiration behind the charity organization To Write Love on Her Arms. Are you channeling anything in your own life to play her?
KD: Renee is about depression, addiction and suicide prevention, so I go through some dark things. But the message really is about love and what you do with it, if you let people in to help you. I’m notoriously straitlaced; I’ve never had any substance-abuse problems. But we all have been hopeless and sad and lost, and have had tragedy in our lives, and I draw from that.

You’re filming Renee on the heels of Thor, which couldn’t be a bigger departure from what you’ve done. What was it like to work on such a big-budget production?
KD: Oh my God, the difference between what I’m used to and that movie was so incredible, so awe-inspiring in every way. It was a complete 180. Kenneth Branagh directed it, and he is amazing. He is my personal Thor.

What kind of acting haven’t you done?
KD: I really want to do a period piece. Badly. Maybe it’s the corsets. I want to do accents and that kind of stuff.

You’re known for your blogging and your obsession with Twitter. What’s the fascination?
KD: It’s a way for me to see if I can be clever in 140 characters. It’s a writing challenge for my own perverse entertainment.

Source.

See more images in the gallery.

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Kat looked absolutely smoking as she posed for Daydream Nation portraits on TIFF’s third day. She was joined by director Michael Goldbach and co-star Josh Lucas in the portraits studio. They all look adorable together. :D

See the rest of the pictures here in the gallery.

Kat’s featured in Issue 110 of Flaunt Magazine, which is out this month. These scans are sort of tiny, but we’re working on finding an actual physical copy to scan for you guys. In the meantime, Warwick Saint did the photography, and you can see his work here.

TIFF Defendor Premiere and After Party
TIFF 2009 Portraits

Pictures from the TIFF premiere of Defendor and an accompanying portraits session now up in the gallery!

Six outtakes from the Nylon photoshoot with Olivia Thirlby are up in the gallery. :) Click any one of the images to get there.

Two new high quality pictures from the TIFF photoshoot for Nick and Norah last year are up in the gallery.

I’ve got a bunch of new images for you today. First off is the caps from Kat’s newest videoblog that were promised yesterday.

Next some outtakes from the Entertainment Weekly issue of November, 2008, where Kat was featured in the Breakout Stars of 2008! These are all with Rob Pattinson, and photographed by Chris Craymer.

And last but not least, 13 new HQ images from Kat’s attending the Adventureland Premiere on March 16.

Enjoy!

Well, that’s finally done with! HQ screencaps of Nick and Norah, along with pictures from the storyboard. :)

We also have something else that Sandra pointed out; a piece from The New York Times Online called Great Performers, which has a short commentary on Kat, an article Catherine Keener wrote on Kat, along with four gorgeous photographs by Paolo Pellegrin. If you don’t know who Catherine Keener is, she played Kat’s mom in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Great Performers

“We try to spotlight individuals who are not as well known, and this year, that is Kat Dennings. She is in the movie “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” and she first caught our eye when she played Catherine Keener’s daughter in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Despite the fact that she is an actress who has a burgeoning career and has been featured in magazines as up-and-coming, she still lives with her parents in the carriage house behind their house, and she doesn’t know how to drive – her mother has arranged for her to have a car service so that she can get to and from auditions and parties and wherever she needs to be. She has the qualities of being both a very young girl and very sophisticated at the same time. She’s not an actress that’s intensively trying to be seen by the tabloids, and she has a kind of vulnerability about her that makes her very, very interesting.”

Catherine Keener on Kat Dennings

I’m not sure when I first met Kat Dennings. She played my daughter in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and one day, we were having a read-through of the script and I looked over and there was this lovely girl. I thought, Who is this girl? She was kind of lit up from within. When someone is that beautiful, it’s great when they’re funny too, and from the beginning, Kat had her own rhythm: a way of being funny and emotional at the same time.

A lot of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” was shot like a controlled improvisation. Anything and everything was welcome, and the director, Judd Apatow, never yelled “cut.” It took me a while to get used to that style of working, but Kat was a natural. In one scene her character, who is anxious to give up her virginity, is battling with me. As her mom, I don’t want her to grow up too fast. Kat’s character is in the bathroom, crying, and I’m outside the door with Steve Carell, who played my boyfriend. Kat was just screaming at me — cursing and yelling and calling me all kinds of names that were not in the script. I was thrown and I turned to Steve and I said, “I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Even though it was improvised, Judd kept that line in the movie — I clearly sounded like a frustrated mom and it was all due to Kat’s rant.

During the shoot, I looked out for Kat. I think we all did. I was protective of her and I stayed in touch with her after the movie was finished. It’s tough on young girls in Hollywood — it’s easy to fall into the tabloid culture. But that’s not what she’s made of. Kat has beauty and youth and talent, but there’s something else that sets her apart: she’s comfortable being different.

Catherine Keener has received two Academy Award nominations for best supporting actress, for “Being John Malkovich” in 2000 and “Capote” in 2006.

Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos, for The New York Times.

Source.

Thanks to Sandra on livejournal, we have these five beautiful images of Kat from the Williams + Hirakawa photoshoot. Check out the rest of their stuff here.