Yes, ‘Tall Girl’ Star Ava Michelle Is Actually A Tall Teenager

Tall Girl is a new Netflix Original movie that dropped into the streaming giant’s library just yesterday.

Warning: May contain spoilers for Tall Girl.

For those who haven’t watched the movie yet, it tells the story of a 16-year-old named Jodi (played by Ava Michelle) who struggles with adversity because of her height.

Early on in the movie, Jodi puts emphasis on the fact that she’s six-foot, one-and-a-half inches tall. Throughout the film, Jodi struggles to cope with her height as she finds it to be a huge turn off to teenage boys who don’t want to date a girl that is taller than them. Moreover, nearly every person in the school has a cruel nickname for her and they can’t seem to stop asking her “how’s the weather up there?”

Things get a little better for Jodi when an unusually tall foreign exchange student starts attending the school. Unfortunately for Jodi, drama ensues as her pageant queen sister’s warning that foreign exchange students were “chum” and that the girls of the school would turn into “sharks” as they circled him comes true.

After watching the movie, there are a few big questions viewers have about the leading lady. For starters, is Ava Michelle actually a tall teenager or have they done some magic with heels and camera angles to make her look taller than everyone else?

According to Refinery29, the actress is not that different from her character in terms of her age and her height. Just a year older then her character, Ava is 17-years-old. As far as her height is concerned, she’s the exact same height as her character Jodi.

During an exclusive interview with Refinery29, Michelle revealed that the movie was the closest thing she had to a high school experience as she was homeschooled. So, she never endured the same challenges her character did because of her height. Being an unusually tall teenager, however, made it easier for the actress to jump into the shoes of Jodi and feel comfortable playing the character.

While Michelle didn’t have a normal high school experience, that didn’t mean she didn’t have her own fair share of bullying because of her size.

In fact, Michelle was a member of Dance Moms for three years. She, however, was bullied by Abby Lee Miller before being cut from the Junior Elite Competition because of her height.

When the trailer for Tall Girl first dropped, it was not well-received by the internet. In fact, many criticized Ava’s character Jodi for exaggerating how difficult it was for a girl to be tall. Initially, this was hard for the young actress to deal with as it brought flashbacks to the drama associated with Dance Moms. Being significantly older and having experienced something similar in the past, however, made her more prepared to deal with the criticism.

“I have gotten a little bit of hate since the trailer came out. But I feel like I’m in such a different place now. It doesn’t affect me the way it did when I was younger.”

Michelle also jokingly revealed some of the comments made her feel great as it was the first time in her life she’d be told she wasn’t “tall enough” because some people believed a taller actress should have been cast for the role.

For Netflix subscribers who enjoy rom-coms such as Tall Girl, they can rest easy knowing it is far from the only one in the streaming library. As The Inquisitr previously reported, The Kissing Booth (which has a sequel in the works) was crowned as one of the most re-watched movies in the streaming library last year.

Tall Girl is now available to stream via Netflix.