Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress. Her first major role was as a lead cast member on TBS’s The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009) and she subsequently appeared in the independent films The Burning Plain (2008) and Winter’s Bone (2010), for which she received nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Satellite Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. At age 20, she was the third-youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. At age 22, her performance in the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook (2012) earned her the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Satellite Award and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress, amongst other accolades, making her the youngest person ever to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actress and the second-youngest Best Actress winner. At age 23, her performance in the comedy-drama American Hustle (2013) earned her nominations for the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Lawrence is also known for playing Raven Darkholme / Mystique in the 2011 superhero-action film X-Men: First Class, a role she will reprise in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. Beginning in 2012, she gained international fame for playing the leading heroine, Katniss Everdeen, in The Hunger Games film series, an adaption of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling trilogy of novels. Her performance in the films garnered her notable critical praise and marked her as the highest-grossing action heroine to date. Lawrence's performances thus far have prompted Rolling Stone to call her "the most talented young actress in America." In 2013, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, ELLE Magazine named her the most powerful woman in the entertainment business, and she ranked No. 1 on AskMen’s list of Top 99 Most Desirable Women of the year.
Early Life
Jennifer Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, to Karen (née Koch), a children's camp manager, and Gary, owner of construction company Lawrence & Associates. She has two older brothers, Ben and Blaine, and is of English, German, Irish, and Scottish descent. She acted in local theater and, by the age of 14, had decided to pursue an acting career, persuading her parents to take her to New York City to find a talent agent. Prior to finding success in Hollywood, Lawrence attended Kammerer Middle School in Louisville. She graduated from high school two years early with a 3.9 average, aiming at a career in acting. While growing up and in between acting, Lawrence served as an assistant nurse at the children's summer day camp that her mother ran.
2010-12 Breakthrough
Lawrence's lead role in Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, which won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, is often cited as a breakout performance for her. She portrays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year-old in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and her younger brother and sister. The performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. David Denby, writing in The New Yorker, said "the movie would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic playing Ree." Peter Travers from the Rolling Stone also spoke highly of her and noted that "her performance is more than acting, it's a gathering storm. Lawrence's eyes are a roadmap to what's tearing Ree apart." Receiving accolades for her performance, Lawrence was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Perfornace. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress on January 25, 2011, becoming the third-youngest actress to date to be nominated for the category, and also accrued nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Satellite Awards among others. Also in 2011, Lawrence co-starred in the independent film Like Crazy, which premiered at the 2011 Sundancre Film Festival.
In March 2011, Lawrence was offered the part of Katniss Everdeen in the film The Hunger Games, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. Despite being a fan of the books, Lawrence took three days to accept the role because she was initially intimidated by the size of the movie and how it might affect her career. She underwent extensive training to get in shape for the role, including stunt training, archery, rock and tree climbing, combat, running, parkour, pilates and yoga. The film was released on March 23, 2012, and set a record for the third-largest opening weekend, making a record-breaking $152.5 million in three days for a non-sequel film.
The success of the Hunger Games, and Lawrence as Katniss, was notable for breaking the male-centric nature of action films—prior to The Hungers Games, among the "top 200 worldwide box-office hits ever ($350 million and up), not one has been built around a female action star.". Forbes stated "No one who has seen The Hunger Games would question star Jennifer Lawrence's ability to play an action star."
Though the film generally received positive reviews, Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss Everdeen was the most highly praised, with Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter saying Lawrence embodies Katniss, "just as one might imagine her from the novel" and "anchors" the whole film "with impressive gravity and presence", ultimately calling her "the ideal screen actress." Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times stated that Lawrence is the "best possible performer as Katniss and is the key factor in making 'Hunger Games' an involving popular entertainment with strong narrative drive that holds our attention." Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert also agreed that "Lawrence is strong and convincing in the central role."
Acting Style
Donald Sutherland compared Lawrence to Laurence Olivier and also described her as an "exquisite and brilliant actor." Film director David O. Russell has praised her effortless acting that make her performances look easy. Lawrence stated "I've always studied people and been fascinated by their reactions and feelings. And I think that's the best acting class you can take – watching real people, listening to them and studying them."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Lawrence
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