Jennifer Lawrence

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jennifer Lawrence

A head shot of Jennifer Lawrence attending the premiere of 'A Beautiful Planet' in 2016

Lawrence in 2016

Born Jennifer Shrader Lawrence

August 15, 1990 (age 32)

Indian Hills, Kentucky, U.S.

Other names Jennifer Lawrence Maroney[1]

Occupation Actress

Years active 2006–present

Spouse Cooke Maroney (m. 2019)

Children 1

Awards Full list

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress. Lawrence is known for starring
in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion
worldwide. The world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016, she appeared in Time's 100 most
influential people in the world list in 2013 and the Forbes Celebrity 100 list from 2013 to 2016.
Lawrence began her career as a teenager with guest roles on television. Her first major role was as a
main cast member on the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009). She made her film debut with a
supporting role in the drama Garden Party (2008), and had her breakthrough playing a poverty-stricken
teenager in the independent film Winter's Bone (2010). Lawrence gained stardom portraying the mutant
Mystique in the X-Men film series (2011–2019) and Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games film series
(2012–2015). The latter made her the highest-grossing action heroine.

Lawrence collaborated with filmmaker David O. Russell on three films, which earned her various
accolades. For portraying a troubled young widow in the romance Silver Linings Playbook (2012) she won
the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the second-youngest winner in the category at age 22.
Lawrence won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing an unpredictable wife
in the black comedy American Hustle (2013). She also received Golden Globe Awards for both, and for
portraying businesswoman Joy Mangano in the biopic Joy (2015). A series of mixed reviewed films and
the media scrutiny of her role choices led to a small break from acting. Lawrence returned with the
streaming film Don't Look Up (2021), after which she produced and starred in the drama Causeway
(2022) and comedy No Hard Feelings (2023).

Lawrence is a feminist and advocates for women's reproductive rights.[2] In 2015, she founded the
Jennifer Lawrence Foundation, which advocates for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Special
Olympics. Lawrence formed the production company Excellent Cadaver in 2018. She is an active member
of the nonpartisan nonprofit anti-corruption organization RepresentUs and has served as a spokesperson
in its videos about protecting democracy.[3][4]

Early life and education

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born on August 15, 1990, in Indian Hills, Kentucky, to Gary, a construction
company owner, and Karen (née Koch), a summer camp manager.[5][6][7] She has two older brothers,
Ben and Blaine.[6] Her mother raised her to be "tough" like her brothers, and would not allow her to
play with other girls in preschool, as she deemed her "too rough" with them.[8] Lawrence was educated
at the Kammerer Middle School in Louisville.[8] She did not enjoy her childhood due to hyperactivity and
social anxiety, and considered herself a misfit among her peers.[6][9] Lawrence has said that her
anxieties vanished when performing on stage and that acting gave her a sense of accomplishment.[9]
Her school activities included cheerleading, softball, field hockey and basketball, which she played on a
boys' team coached by her father.[8]

Growing up, Lawrence was fond of horseback riding and frequently visited a local horse farm.[10] She
has an injured tailbone as a result of being thrown from a horse.[11] When her father worked from
home, she performed for him, often dressing up as a clown or ballerina.[12] Lawrence had her first
acting assignment at age nine, playing a prostitute in a church play based on the Book of Jonah. For the
next few years, she continued taking parts in church plays and school musicals.[8]
Lawrence was 14 and on a family vacation in New York City when she was spotted on the street by a
talent scout, who arranged for her to audition for talent agents.[13][14] Her mother was not keen on her
pursuing an acting career, but she briefly moved her family to New York to let Lawrence read for roles.[8]
After her first cold reading, the agents said that hers was the best they had heard from someone so
young; however, her mother convinced her that they were lying.[14] Lawrence said her early experiences
were difficult because she felt lonely and friendless.[8] She signed with CESD Talent Agency, which
convinced her parents to let her audition for roles in Los Angeles. While her mother encouraged her to
go into modeling, she insisted on pursuing acting,[15] which she considered a "natural fit" for her
abilities, and turned down several modeling offers.[13] She dropped out of school at 14 without
receiving a General Educational Development (GED) or diploma. Lawrence has described herself as "self-
educated" and said that her career was her priority.[16] Between her acting jobs in the city, she made
regular visits to Louisville, where she was an assistant nurse at her mother's camp.[17]

Career

Early roles and breakthrough (2006–2010)

Lawrence at the 2007 Movieguide Awards

Lawrence began her acting career with a minor role in the TV pilot Company Town (2006), which was
never sold.[18] She followed it with guest roles in several television shows, including Monk (2006) and
Medium (2007).[19] She received her first part as a series regular on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall
Show, in which she played Lauren, the rebellious teenage daughter of a family living in suburban
Louisville, Colorado.[19] The series premiered in 2007 and ran for three seasons.[20] Tom Shales of The
Washington Post considered her a scene stealer in her part, and David Hinckley of the New York Daily
News wrote that she was successful in "deliver[ing] the perpetual exasperation of teenage girls".[21][22]
In 2009 Lawrence won a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in a TV Series for the role.
[23]

Lawrence made her film debut in the 2008 drama film Garden Party, in which she played a troubled
teenager named Tiff.[24] She then appeared in director Guillermo Arriaga's feature film debut The
Burning Plain (2008), a drama narrated in a hyperlink format. She was cast as the teenage daughter of
Kim Basinger's character, who discovers her mother's extramarital affair. She shared the role with
Charlize Theron, who played the older version of her character. Mark Feeney of The Boston Globe
described her role as "a thankless task", but Derek Elley of Variety praised her as the production's prime
asset.[25][26] Her performance earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Emerging Actress at
the 2008 Venice Film Festival.[27] The same year, she appeared in the music video for the song "The
Mess I Made" by Parachute.[28] In 2008, she starred in Lori Petty's drama The Poker House as the oldest
of three sisters living with a drug-abusing mother.[29][30] Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter
opined that Lawrence "has a touching poise on camera that conveys the resilience of children".[31] She
won an Outstanding Performance Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival for her performance in the film.
[32]

Lawrence's breakthrough role came in Debra Granik's independent drama Winter's Bone (2010), based
on the novel of the same name by Daniel Woodrell. The film featured her as 17-year-old Ree Dolly, a
poverty-stricken teenage girl in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and younger
siblings while searching for her missing father. She traveled to the Ozarks a week before filming began to
live with the family on whom the story was based, and in preparation for the role, she learned to fight,
skin squirrels, and chop wood.[33][34] David Denby of The New Yorker asserted that the film "would be
unimaginable with anyone less charismatic",[35] and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "her
performance is more than acting; it's a gathering storm. Lawrence's eyes are a roadmap to what's tearing
Ree apart."[36] The production won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.[37] The actress
was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance, and received her first
nominations for the Golden Globe Award, SAG Award and Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming
the second-youngest Best Actress Oscar nominee at the time.[38][39][40]

Worldwide recognition (2011–2013)

Lawrence at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011, where she received her first Academy Award nomination
for Winter's Bone (2010)

In 2011, Lawrence took on a supporting role in Like Crazy, a romantic drama about long-distance
relationships, starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones.[41] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times
considered the film to be an "intensely wrought and immensely satisfying love story" and credited all
three performers for "making their [characters'] yearning palpable".[42] She then appeared again with
Yelchin in Jodie Foster's The Beaver, alongside Foster and Mel Gibson. Filmed in 2009, the production
was delayed due to controversy concerning Gibson and earned less than half of its $21 million budget.
[43][44]

After her dramatic role in Winter's Bone, Lawrence looked for something less serious, and found it with
her first high-profile release—Matthew Vaughn's superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011)—a prequel to
the X-Men film series.[45] She portrayed the shapeshifting mutant Mystique, a role played by Rebecca
Romijn in the earlier films.[46] Vaughn cast Lawrence, as he thought that she would be able to portray
the weakness and strength involved in the character's transformation.[47] For the part, Lawrence lost
weight and practiced yoga.[48] For Mystique's blue form, she had to undergo eight hours of makeup,
where latex pieces and body paint were applied to her otherwise nude body,[49] as Romijn had done on
the other films. This process required Lawrence to report to set at 2 a.m.[50] She was intimidated in the
role as she admired Romijn.[51] Writing for USA Today, Claudia Puig considered the film to be a "classy
re-boot" of the film series, and believed that her "high-spirited performance" empowered the film.[52]
With worldwide earnings of $350 million, X-Men: First Class became Lawrence's highest-grossing film at
that point.[53]

In 2012, Lawrence starred as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, an adaptation of the first book in
author Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the series tells the story
of the teenage heroine Everdeen as she joins rebel forces against a totalitarian government after winning
a brutal televised annual event. Despite being an admirer of the books, Lawrence was initially hesitant to
accept the part, because of the grand scale of the film. She agreed to the project after her mother
convinced her to take the part.[54] She practiced archery, rock and tree climbing, and hand-to-hand
combat techniques, and other physically demanding activities for the role.[8][55][56] While training for
the part, she injured herself running into a wall.[57] The Hunger Games garnered positive reviews, with
Lawrence's portrayal of Everdeen being particularly praised;[58] Roger Ebert described the film as "an
effective entertainment," and found Lawrence to be "strong and convincing in the central role."[59]
Similarly, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called her an "ideal screen actress", believing that
she had embodied the Everdeen of the novel, and added that she "anchors [the film] with impressive
gravity and presence".[60] With worldwide revenues of over $690 million,[53] The Hunger Games
became a top-grossing film featuring a female lead,[61] making Lawrence the highest-grossing action
heroine of all time.[62] The film's success established her as a global star.[63]