You probably recognize Brittany Snow, 32, from starring in films such as the "Pitch Perfect" series, "John Tucker Must Die" and "Hairspray," but did you ever notice the scar on her forehead? Industry experts once told her she'd never make it in Hollywood with that sort of imperfection.
Snow spoke with TODAY Style about embracing "flaws," finding confidence and never fully growing out of an awkward stage to promote her work with the vitafusion Fruit Tree project, which is dedicated to planting fruit trees in underserved communities.
I got my scar when I was 3 years old from falling on a brick. My sister was babysitting me and forgot she was babysitting me and then I fell and tripped and split my head open.
I chose not to get plastic surgery on it. I chose to embrace it. Now, I think it adds character. I like it.
My mom got me into the entertainment business when I was 3 years old — right after the scar, probably — so I've been in this business a very long time. When I was little, there was a woman who told me I would never make it because the scar was right in the middle of my forehead.
I think I was about 8 when the person made that comment. She told me that I needed to get plastic surgery on my face because it was distracting. My mom even took me to a plastic surgeon's office to get it removed and I freaked out in the parking lot. I wouldn't go in. I think instinctively my 8-year-old self knew that I needed to keep it.
I don't even realize that I have the scar anymore. I forget and then sometimes I see it in pictures.
I like when people have scars. I like when people have weird teeth. I like when people have something weird on their face. Maybe that's just because I grew up with a scar.
When I look at old pictures of myself, I wish I could go back and tell her it's going to be OK and give her a hug and say, "You're so innocent and cute. And don't be so hard on yourself. Don't be mean to yourself. Don't say that you're ugly or fat or any of those negative things."
To me, healthy body image means loving yourself from the inside out — as cheesy as that is — realizing that everybody has imperfections and nobody is perfect. Beauty is not specific to a size or to a shape. There is no set rules of how you need to look. You should just really like who you are. No one's going to remember what size you were, they're going to remember how you made them feel.
I feel like I'm still in my awkward stage. All the time I constantly am like, "I'm in my 30s now. When am I going to get classy and not awkward?" But it's still not happening. I'm still not to that point where I feel like I'm eloquent in anything that I do. But in fourth grade, I had braces and I would curl my hair and then put gel in it and then straighten it, which I don't know why that happened. But that was something that I did. It was awful.
I'm still finding my confidence every day. I think as I get older, I'm still learning that my intelligence and my humor and things like that matter more than what I have thought my whole life, which is that I needed to work on how I looked or how I presented myself or how I cared what people thought. I think as I grow up, I realize that (physical appearance) is so fleeting and it doesn't matter. I just need to be proud of who I am and the people that I touch in my life.
As told to TODAY's Emily Sher. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.