Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence

Active - 2008 - 2023  |   Born - Aug 15, 1990 in Louisville, Kentucky, United States  |   Genres - Comedy, Drama, Action

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Biography by AllMovie

Kentucky-born actress Jennifer Lawrence began her career as a teenager, appearing on shows like Monk and The Bill Engvall Show from 2006 through 2009. In 2008, she appeared alongside Charlize Theron in the critically acclaimed film The Burning Plain, for which she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for the best young emerging actor/actress. She next made waves starring as the daughter of a troubled mother in 2010's Winter's Bone, which garnered her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

In 2011 she appeared in the well-reviewed romantic drama Like Crazy, joined the X-Men franchise as Mystique and she won the coveted lead role in the highly anticipated adaptation of The Hunger Games, which would become one of the biggest smash hits of 2012. As if that weren't heady enough for an actress only 22 years old, Lawrence earned stellar reviews for her work opposite Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, a critical and popular hit at the end of that year that earned Lawrence the Oscar for Best Actress. The next year followed the same successful pattern, with the second installment of the Hunger Game series, Catching Fire, capturing the number one spot at the domestic box office for 2013, and grabbing another Oscar nomination, for American Hustle.

In 2014, she reprised her role as Mystique in X-Men: Days of Future Past and starred in the third Hunger Games film, Mockingjay - Part 1. She wrapped up the series the following year, and also won acclaim (and yet another Oscar nomination) for Joy, playing Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano. The film reteamed her with director David O. Russell, making it their third collaboration. Her Oscar nomination for the film made her the youngest person, at age 25, to nab four acting nominations.

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Factsheet

  • Grew up a tomboy in Kentucky and played sports, including basketball on an otherwise all-boy team; nickname was Nitro.
  • In 2008, received the Outstanding Performance Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival for The Poker House.
  • Named Best New Young Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance in The Burning Plain.
  • Was named by the New York Times as one of the 50 people to watch in 2010.
  • Took eight hours to apply her makeup and three more to remove it for her role as the blue-skinned mutant Mystique in the 2011 film X-Men: First Class.
  • Sang the vocals for "The Hanging Tree" from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1; the song debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
  • With her Academy Award nomination for Joy, she became the youngest four-time acting nominee, at age 25.