"Tall Girl" Star Ava Michelle on How She Learned to Embrace Her Height for Her Netflix Role

Yes, 17-year-old Ava Michelle is actually tall.

Like her character Jodi, the star of Netflix’s newest teen rom-com Tall Girl (out Sept. 13) clocks in at 6-foot-1-inch and a quarter (or a half — “Depends on who’s asking,” Ava jokes with Teen Vogue). So it’s safe to say Ava resonates with much of what Jodi goes through in the film, whether it’s being the punchline of weather-related jokes or meeting someone while sitting down only to shock them when you stand up.

But the point of Tall Girl isn’t just to say that tall girls can have a tough go of it, and the movie isn’t only for women over 6 feet tall. Instead, it’s an acknowledgment that at any age, our insecurities can feel so outsized, so insurmountable, that we become convinced they’re the only thing people see. Tall Girl reminds viewers that despite those feelings, it’s still extremely possible to make awesome friends, fall in love, and maybe even come to some kind of arrangement with the self-deprecating voices in our heads.

“My generation needs this movie to know that they can love themselves, and that the things people say don't define them,” Ava says. “We might not like these things [about ourselves], but they are what make us different and special.”

In Tall Girl, Ava’s Jodi is the tallest person in her family, especially compared to her beauty queen older sister, played by Sabrina Carpenter. Jodi is clearly self-conscious about her height, even though she’s surrounded by two friends, Fareeda (Anjelika Washington) and Dunkleman (Griffin Gluck) who alternately defend her and build her up. Dunkleman obviously has a crush on Jodi, even though she’s half a foot taller than he is, but Jodi shrugs him off, caught up in the idea she should date someone tall — and bemoaning the lack of options at her school. Enter Stig (Luke Eisner), a Swedish exchange student who steals the hearts of all the girls, but especially Jodi’s.

The resulting love triangle helps set Jodi on her path toward self-discovery as she learns, like all tall girls must learn, to own her height. It’s a journey that on some level mirrors Ava’s own rise as a professional dancer and now, with her foray into acting.

Fans of the series Dance Moms know Ava isn’t a stranger to show business, even if she’s just beginning her career as an actor. She appeared in seasons 3 and 4 of the show as part of the Broadway Dance Academy studio in Fenton, Michigan, which is owned by her mom. Throughout her preteen and teenage years, Ava has racked up numerous awards for her dancing, and she also competed on So You Think You Can Dance in 2016. As a dancer, she wasn’t immune to comments about her height.

“My height was really hard for me growing up. Like, I was 5'10" at 13. I was really, really tall,” Ava says. “In the business that I was in, and even just being in school, I was made fun of, and it was really difficult. But ironically, I got my first huge [acting gig] partly because of the thing I hated about myself for so long.”

Tall Girl is Ava’s first acting role. Her manager saw the script and immediately emailed her: “It’s in all caps, like, ‘Ava, you need to read this script. I need to get you in it. This is perfect,’” Ava remembers. “I'm like, ‘Okay, my manager is not like that at all.’ She normally downplays everything. So I read just the storyline of it, and my mom and I are looking at each other and we both have chills. My mom said, ‘I think this is it.’”

The instinct turned out to be correct. After auditioning and waiting three months, she got a callback. Soon, she was living in New Orleans and filming Tall Girl, working with director Nzingha Stewart, who Ava calls “the most amazing human.”

Though acting on a set was a completely new experience, Ava quickly realized it was the direction she wanted her career to go in — even if future experiences aren’t as tailor-made for her, with a cast and crew she counts as friends. “I'm like, ‘Am I doomed for the rest of my life?’” she says. “Because I honestly wouldn't change a thing. Tall Girl was so perfect.”

In the future, Ava would love to put her dancing and athleticism to work in action roles, taking on the next Katniss Everdeens or Marvel superheroes. She’s excited to take on parts that aren’t all about her height: “If you're listening, casting gods, I would love to be in the Gossip Girl [reboot,]” she says, admitting Blake Lively is a fellow tall girl role model.

But regardless of what she does next, Ava, like Jodi, seems to be in a place of accepting what she can’t change. Instead, she’s making her past experiences, her insecurities, and her height work for her.

“I would get so many nos in dance auditions, and a lot of times it would just come down to my height,” Ava says. “You can’t do anything about that, so let's just embrace it. That's going to be the one thing that gets you to where you are meant to be. My mom was always the one telling me that. Did I believe her every time? No, but I do now.”

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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue