What is Kat Dennings real name? Actress shares her lesser known last name on a podcast

Kat Dennings, known for appearing in shows such as Sex and the City and 2 Broke Girls, revealed in a newly released podcast that her last name is actually 'Litwack.'

In an episode of Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce, released on March 13, Dennings revealed that the name ‘Kat Dennings’ is actually her stage name, which she had taken up at the young age of 9. Dennings, who has recently been in the news because of her newly released show, Shifting Gears, shared personal details about the emotional states she went through as a 9-year-old while deciding her stage name.

From the beginning of the podcast episode, Kylie Kelce and Dennings had struck up a warm rapport based on the fact that the two grew up in the same suburb and had a number of friends in common.

The two realized these facts right at the beginning of the podcast conversation, which helped create a cordial environment where Dennings felt comfortable enough to reveal her real last name.

The March 13 Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce episode was the first time that Dennings’ real name was revealed to the public. Although it was already known that Dennings was actually the actress’ stage name, Dennings had never revealed her real last name before.

How did Kat Dennings choose her stage name?

When Kylie asked the Thor: The Dark World actress about her name in the podcast episode, Dennings finally revealed that she had decided upon her stage name at the mere age of 9. Talking about her thought process at such a young age, when she made the crucial decision to not be known by her last name, Litwack, Dennings said,

“At the age of nine, I was like, this isn’t going to work for me, I cannot see that name…. She slash I were very ahead of her time… I was, I think in a very CEO like situation…I was like this cannot be displayed on a poster”

Dennings also revealed the inspiration for her present name, Kat Dennings. She shared that the author, Lloyd Alexander’s wife, ended up becoming an inspiration for Dennings’ stage name. Kat Dennings, who referred to the author and his wife as “like her grandparents,” whom she would meet every week till she was 15, further shared,

“So his wife’s name was Janine Denni, she was French…and I thought it would be a super sick idea if I took her name and made it like kind of different, literally that was the thinking, that was as far as it went”

Dennings also revealed that the choice of her first name, ‘Kat,’ did not have such a personal and quirky reason associated with it. She shared that the name ‘Kat’ was inspired by Christina Ricci’s character in the film Casper. The character ‘Kat’ in Casper was the actress’ favorite at the age of nine. Dennings needed to find a suitable name by which she would be known all through her adult life as an actress. Sharing her thought process from the time, Kat Dennings said,

“Kat Dennings, that’s it, I can really picture it...that is literally the whole story”

ABC’s Shifting Gears features Dennings as Riley Parker alongside Tim Allen and Seann William Scott. The show premiered on January 8, 2025.