15 August 1990, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Birth Name
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence
Nickname
Jen
Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)
Mini Biography
Jennifer Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She has 2 older brothers, Ben and Blaine, sister-in-law Meredith, and her parents are Gary and Karen Lawrence.
Jennifer, known to her friends and family as "Jen", was discovered in New York City at the age of 14. Before Jennifer became an actor, she was involved in cheer-leading, field hockey, softball, and modeling, none of which she held a passion for.
In the spring of 2004, she traveled to New York City and set up a few auditions with talent and modeling agencies. After conducting her first cold read, the agents told her mother that "it was the best cold read by a 14- year-old they had ever heard", and tried to convince her mother that she needed to spend the summer in Manhattan. After leaving the agency, Jen was spotted by an agent in the midst of shooting an H&M ad and asked to take her picture. The next day, that agent followed up with her and invited her to the studio for a cold read audition. Again, the agents were highly impressed and strongly urged her mother to allow her to spend the summer in New York City.
As fate would have it, she did spend that summer in New York City and appeared in commercials such as MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" and played a role in the movie, Devil You Know (2012). Shortly thereafter, her career forced her and her family to move to Los Angeles where she was cast in the TBS sitcom "The Bill Engvall Show" (2007) and movies such as The Poker House (2008) and The Burning Plain (2008).
Perhaps her most well-known work to date is her role as "Katniss Everdeen" in The Hunger Games (2012).
Trivia
For her role in Winter's Bone (2010), Lawrence learned to skin squirrels, chop wood, and fight.
Plays guitar.
Lawrence graduated from high school two years early in order to begin acting.
Lawrence was discovered by a photographer while visiting New York with her mom in 2005, which led to her landing an agent.
Is the second youngest Oscar nominee for best actress in a leading role. Only Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider (2002) was younger.
Fan of Jeff Bridges.
Appeared in two Sundance Grand Jury Prize winners in a row: Winter's Bone (2010) and Like Crazy (2011).
One of People magazine's Most Beautiful People in the World 2011.
One of Variety magazine's Top Ten Actors to Watch 2010.
Voted No. 10 on the 2011 Maxim list "Hot 100" women.
Some of her favorite actresses/acting inspirations are Meryl Streep, Laura Linney and Cate Blanchett.
Voted #47 on Ask men's top 99 'most desirable' women of 2012.
Voted by her class as "Most Talkative".
Good friends with her co-star, from The Hunger Games (2012), Josh Hutcherson.
Personal Quotes
[on auditions and meetings] - The miserable ones are the ones where all the girls auditioning are in the same room. There's no talking in those rooms. I've tried. Yesterday I had to do an interview. I was in a horrible mood. I couldn't think of basic words. I could see my publicist in the background, mouthing things to say. They want you to be likable all the time, and I'm just not.
I'm excited to be seen as sexy. But not slutty.
Where are the Robert Redfords and Paul Newmans of my age group? I love James Franco, but where's the next James Franco? Where are the hunks who can act?
There are actresses who build themselves, and then there are actresses who are built by others. I want to build myself.
... I have this feeling of protectiveness over characters I want to play. I worry about them-if someone else gets the part, I'm afraid they won't do it right; they'll make the character a victim or they'll make her a villain or they'll just get it wrong somehow. ... When I get like that, anything's possible.
[on her role in Winter's Bone (2010)] - I'd have walked on hot coals to get the part. I thought it was the best female role I'd read - ever. I was so impressed by Ree's tenacity and that she didn't take no for an answer. For the audition, I had to fly on the redeye to New York and be as ugly as possible. I didn't wash my hair for a week, I had no makeup on. I looked beat up in there. I think I had icicles hanging from my eyebrows.
When I first got to New York, my feet hit the sidewalk and you'd have thought I was born and raised there. I took over that town. None of my friends took me seriously. I came home and announced, 'I'm going to move to New York,' and they were like 'OK.' Then when I did, they kept waiting for me to fail and come back. But I knew I wouldn't. I was like, 'I'll show you.'
I never felt like I completely, 100% understood something so well as acting.
I'd like to direct at some point. But I don't know because 10 years ago I would have never imagined that I'd be here. So in 10 years from now, I might be running a rodeo.
[on being a sudden sex symbol]: It feels weird. But [it's] not bad at all.
I don't really diet or anything. I'm miserable when I'm dieting and I like the way I look. I'm really sick of all these actresses looking like birds... I'd rather look a little chubby on camera and look like a person in real life, than look great on screen and look like a scarecrow in real life.
Winter's Bone (2010) wasn't a fun, easy movie to make by any means. But I didn't do it to have fun.
I like when things are hard; I'm very competitive. If something seems difficult or impossible, it interests me.
[on not wanting to be famous] I look at Kristen Stewart now and I think, "I'd never want to be that famous". I can't imagine how I'd feel if all of a sudden my life was pandemonium.
I'm doing what I love, and then I get months and months of rest. I have a lot of money for a 21-year-old. I can't stand it when actors complain.
I hate saying, 'I like exercising.' I want to punch people who say that in the face. But it's nice being in shape for a movie, because they basically do it all for you. It's like, 'Here's your trainer. This is what you can eat. ... I don't diet. I do exercise! But I don't diet. You can't work when you're hungry, you know?
[on being asked if 'The Hunger Games' transitioned her too quickly into stardom] - I think about this all the time. But when you get a promotion at your job you don't go 'That was too fast. Can I stay in the mailroom a while longer?' You take it.
[on posing in an Esquire magazine photo shoot to try and help shake up her public image] A lot of people said, 'Oh, now we have a great actress come along and she's showing her boobs.' But that's exactly what I had to do so I could keep working. Honestly, that photo shoot is what helped me get "X-Men" ["X-Men: First Class"].
There's just no imagination in Hollywood. I wanted to show people "Winter's Bone" for the performance, but it ended up having the opposite effect. People were like, no, she's not feminine, she's not sexual.
[on referring to the characters she's played in "Winter's Bone" and "The Hunger Games"] I don't know what it is with me and maternal wilderness girls, I just love 'em. Even before "Winter's Bone," the first movie I ever did, "Poker House," I was caring for my younger siblings in a tough, dark situation.
[on suffering through school] I always felt dumber than everybody else. I hated it. I hated being inside. I hated being behind a desk. School just kind of killed me.
Salary
Winter's Bone (2010) $3,000 a week (scale)
The Hunger Games (2012) $500,000 plus escalators that equal to $1 million
