Jen Ponton was already a proponent of feminism and positive body image before she landed the role of Rubi on AMC’s new series, “Dietland,” a dramedy following a woman as she experiences a political awakening. But the “30 Rock,” “Orange Is the New Black,” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” actress still sees this #MeToo moment as a turning point for women in entertainment. And she is an active participant in the movement: You can find her tweeting avidly and proudly speaking up about the issues she’s passionate about, including gender equality, inclusivity, and sizeism.

We recently chatted with Ponton about her continued role in helping women overcome body image stereotypes both in and out of the entertainment industry, her “Dietland” character, and her public campaign to play the plus-size superheroine Faith.

“Dietland” airs Mondays at 9pm EST on AMC.

W&H: You wrote a guest post for Women and Hollywood two years ago about doing sex scenes at size 22 in the movie “Love on the Run.” Welcome back! Firstly, can you talk about what the journey has been like for you as a woman in Hollywood up to this point?

JP: For the most part, it’s been a road filled with good relationships and hard work, and not a ton of heartbreaks, which has been very, very fortunate for me. I really had a vision of the kind of people I wanted to be working with, and the kind of work I want to be doing. Marti [Noxon, creator of “Dietland”] and Tina Fey were on my list of dream collaborators forever. Paul Feig is up there, too, and Amy Poehler. Once I really had those people in my sight, I felt like there was a bit of divine ushering in from the universe.

W&H: How do you maintain that control to work with the types of people you want to work with and get the types of roles you’re interested in?

JP: Definitely a part of that is amazing representation. I have been very lucky to work with the types of agents and managers who really understand me, who really back me, who believe in me. A huge entry question when I’m courting someone for representation is, “Do you see my career as something that transcends fat girl roles?” Everybody I have worked with has always believed very firmly in my person virtually being able to tell any story unless the character expressly asks for someone that is typical Hollywood beautiful.

For my part, I’m getting out and supporting and getting to know the people who are making good work whether it’s on Twitter, where I can amplify them and support them, or whether it’s on the production level, with casting directors and the incredible people that my dream showrunners hire to find their talent pool. When it comes together, and everyone is working toward the same goal, thankfully it has brought some beautiful work my way.

W&H: In “Dietland” you play Rubi, a member of Calliope House, a collective of renegade feminists. How would you describe your character?

JP: Ruby is fiery, passionate, and very, very impulsive. Her whole being is dictated by passion. At one point, she was in the same place that Plum [played by Joy Nash] is and she found Verena [Robin Weigert] and she never looked back. Her back story is that the general rift between Jennifer [a feminist terrorist organization] and the Calliope House is that Jennifer is going against the law — very vigilante, very much through violence, which is very dynamic and we have not seen that before. It’s really the old guard of feminism of respect of authority and a peaceful aversion from the inside. Rubi’s particular role is to try to upend the diet industry, not with bombs, but with getting things like amphetamines [taken off the market].

On a personal level, her look is so celebratory of the body that she is lucky enough to inhabit. She is all [adorned with color,] with jewelry and bright make-up, and I think that is such a huge part of who she is and how she channels all that energy and how she knows how to usher Plum into the same place that she occupies.

Ponton in “Love on the Run”

W&H: How did the role of Rubi come to be?

JP: When I read the book for “Dietland,” I fell in love with Rubi. I thought Plum was a wonderful character who is going through what many fat activists have gone through at some point or another, but I also loved seeing Rubi reflect exactly where she was. We didn’t have a lot of back story or struggle for her, and it’s so rare that you see that kind of character depicted anywhere — in books, in TV, in film — and I loved seeing that.

The original character in the book was written as a Latino woman, so I thought it was off the table for me, but they made a distinct effort to have a lot people in the cast of color, a lot of trans folk, a lot of queer people represented there. So I ultimately felt that I wasn’t co-opting the role from anyone.

W&H: What kind of set has Marti created on “Dietland”?

JP: The crew is more female than a crew typically is. I will still say that a lot of grips and electrics and typically male jobs are still male, but every person in power in the room is a woman. Every single one! It’s not some Napoleonic, flaunted thing. It’s not like, “Listen to all of us because now you have to.” It is so much more about power through calmness and serenity and creating a safe space.

The work gets done so efficiently and so quickly without any of the egos or tempers or loose canons that can be more far more prevalent in a male-honed environment. There is a lot of fear inherent in hitting your mark, saying your lines, and getting it all done, and I felt the complete absence of that on Marti’s set. It’s an astounding thing.

W&H: “Dietland” is about pushing us out of our comfort zones and presenting issues women want and need to hear about now. Why do you think the world needed this show now, in the dawn of #MeToo?

JP: That topic comes up on the set all the time. The reason it is so important right now is that women are at this place where they have just been in the matrix, like Keanu Reeves getting unplugged and just seeing that he’s in a pod in an electric hellscape. Women have just had this happen on a grand scale. We can’t go back in the pod or un-know what we know now.

You could just numb out and plug your ears and close your eyes and play the same game we have all been playing for far too long, but for so many of us, this is the point where things need to change now. They don’t seem to be changing by us being as adherent to authority and policy as we have always respectfully been.

I think that is what “Dietland” is trying to rattle the cage of. To see women being heard in real life is really important. Let’s hope they don’t have to be heard by murdering people in real life, or whatever we are calling what we live in 2018.

W&H: In the show, you confront Plum about her ideals — challenging her to be more comfortable in her own skin and own who she is. Talk about art imitating life, right? You’re a huge proponent for positive body image in the industry, having recently released a list of rules for body diversity in entertainment. Has this movement changed perceptions about body image or led to any positive progress in entertainment?

JP: So far it’s been a glacial melt. As long as I’ve been working in TV and film, it’s been a snail’s pace, but it’s been happening, which is reassuring. I think “Dietland” is really starting to take a sledgehammer to that and I hope that the show really changes the scope of how body size is portrayed on-screen. We’re still seeing characters as part of that old trope of the sad person who just wants to change themselves and will only feel whole and complete once their body is smaller and they don’t take up as much space — like Plum in the beginning, like Kate in “This Is Us.”

It’s important that these stories are still told because there are people like Rubi who can’t connect yet. It’s really important to have characters represented who are on their way to being seen and leaning into their body. The shift has been slow, but it is happening.

What has been heartening in my own career is that the roles that I’ve gotten have been completely open to body size,. They had nothing to do with the fact that I’m fat or had any expectation for the actor to be thin. They were [just a] character with particular personality traits that happened to line up with me. I’ve had the opportunity to tell stories that had nothing to do with my size many times in my career, which is so refreshing because when it is about my body, I really want it to be a message I can get behind. I absolutely do not want to be perpetuating anyone who is self-loathing.

W&H: How do we continue this progress?

JP: I would really love for people creating the stories to be inspired by this. It goes from the top down. It’s important on the writing level, and the showrunning level, that writers are very cognizant of the kinds of characters they are putting [out into the culture].

We’re doing better with that — with gender, with race, and now with size. It’s so easy for writers to idealize their characters and to make them into the ideal, the insanely dreamy girl. But if that openness comes from the writer and that’s the show they’re pitching to the network, it opens things up for everyone.

And [we need] to have more diversity for writers. More writers who are more interested in telling stories about size.

W&H: I read that you’re campaigning to play the plus-size superhero Faith. Is that true?

JP: I absolutely am. These are the days of social media, so it’s a little bit like putting your hat in the ring and seeing what happens. I feel like the timing couldn’t be any better with “Dietland” being out in the world. People are hungry for stories about women, particularly women who don’t abide by the beauty norm. I have been told many times that I’m just too right, too sunshiny, too bright and perky for a lot of cool stories I’d like to tell. Superhero stories are typically dark and broody. But Faith is a ray of sunshine. It’s so in tandem with who I am at the moment, and I think it would be so great to play with her. Why the heck not? And if I get to fly, that’s just icing on the cake.

W&H: What’s next for you?

JP: I’m putting my money where my mouth is and I’ve been writing!

Last year I really embraced myself as a writer which is very, very exciting for me. I’ve been writing a number of one-hour dramas and half-hour comedies, all of which star a woman of size, whose size has nothing to do with the show itself or with her. They’re also stories that are honest in nature, and very empowering. The one that I’m most excited about is a period piece that delves into an unknown paradise of women in power in the 1950s. All of these pieces are in different states of development.

Long term, I would like to be running and starring in my own show. I think there are more open doors in television than film. To me, what’s always been most important is the personal impact, how many lives this story will change. Television is the ultimate answer. I love the freedom TV has given its writers, actors, and creators, and the amount of diversity that they’re looking for.

Somebody recently said there is no more middle-class of filmmakers, and that is a great way to verbalize this incredible problem of crowdfunded indies and giant fluff blockbusters being directed by the same men over and over again. Film needs a renaissance. I’m here for it, I’m ready to be part of that change, for sure. Film can take a page out of TV’s playbook.