Why The Star Of Netflix's Tall Girl Looks Familiar
Dancer and actress Ava Michelle has broken out in a huge way thanks to Netflix's latest teen rom-com, Tall Girl. She didn't always love being tall, however. Michelle had a difficult time in school, telling Teen Vogue, "My height was really hard for me growing up. Like, I was 5-foot-10 at 13. I was really, really tall... I was made fun of, and it was really difficult."
As it turned out, being tall is actually her superpower, as Michelle explained Tall Girl came about because of it, admitting, "Ironically, I got my first huge [acting gig] partly because of the thing I hated about myself for so long." But this isn't the first time we've seen Michelle on-screen.
Ava Michelle is a Dance Moms alum
Michelle may be a fresh face on Netflix, but she's no stranger to the entertainment business, having appeared on the third and fourth seasons of the hit show Dance Moms, which were set at the Broadway Dance Academy studio in Fenton, Michigan, owned by her mother. As noted by Teen Vogue, Michelle has won lots of awards for her dancing over the years and even competed on So You Think You Can Dance in 2016, so she's certainly no stranger either to performing or being on television.
She had major issues with the infamous Abbey Lee Miller during her time on Dance Moms. The Tall Girl star told Refinery29, "Abby bullied me. People were body-shaming me and tearing me down. It got really bad there, for a second. Not only was it kids in my school making fun of my height, it was people I didn't even know."
Michelle was scrutinized for her height on the show, with one cringeworthy moment finding her cut in front of everybody for being too tall.
Does Ava Michelle regret her time on Dance Moms?
Even though her time on Dance Moms was fraught with difficulty, Michelle doesn't regret it, as she feels it made her a stronger person. When the trailer for Tall Girl was met with some negativity, the actress found herself in a better position to handle it.
"I feel like I'm in such a different place now. It doesn't affect me the way it did when I was younger," she explained to Refinery29. Now, she's looking to the future, hoping to inspire other tall young women to embrace their bodies and be proud of their height just as the 6-foot-1-inch starlet is, too.