Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence 

15 August 1990

An American actress. By the age of 14, she 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 3.9/4.0 average, aiming at a career in acting. While growing up and in between acting, Lawrence served as what she described as an assistant nurse at the children's summer day camp that her parents ran.

Her first major role was as a lead cast member on the TBS sitcom "The Bill Engvall Show" (2007–09). She appeared in the independent dramas "The Burning Plain" (2008) and "Winter's Bone" (2010), for which she received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination. Her first commercial success came with the superhero film "X-Men: First Class" (2011).

Lawrence gained international fame for playing heroine Katniss Everdeen in the "Hunger Games" film series (2012–15), which established her as the highest-grossing action heroine as of 2015. She starred in David O. Russell's romantic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012), for which she won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award, becoming the second-youngest Best Actress Oscar winner. For her supporting role in Russell's comedy-drama American Hustle (2013), she received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and a third Academy Award nomination.

Lawrence is active in charities such as the World Food Programme, Feeding America, and The Thirst Project. She organized an early screening of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" to benefit Saint Mary's Center, a special disabilities organization located in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and raised more than $40,000 for the cause. Lawrence is an official ambassador of the Special Olympics, the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellctual disabilities. Lawrence has created the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation, which supports charities such as the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Special Olympics, and Do Something, a non-profit organization with the goal of motivating young people to take action around social changes. She also held a fundraising contest for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles as part of the LA premiere of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1".

As actress

• Garden Party (2008)
• The Poker House (2008)
• The Burning Plain (2008)
• Winter's Bone (2010)
• Like Crazy (2011)
• The Beaver (2011)
• X-Men: First Class (2011)
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• House at the End of the Street (2012)
• Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
• The Devil You Know (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• American Hustle (2013)
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
• Serena (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• Dior and I (2015)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
• Joy (2015)
• A Beautiful Planet (2016)
• X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
• Passengers (2016)
• Mother (2017)
• Red Sparrow (2017)

Quotations

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I just kind of opened up and said, 'I feel like a rag doll. I have hair and makeup people coming to my house every day and putting me in new, uncomfortable, weird dresses and expensive shoes, and I just shut down and raise my arms up for them to get the dress on, and pout my lips when they need to put the lipstick on.'

* * *

Teenagers only have to focus on themselves - its not until we get older that we realize that other people exist.

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Even as far back as when I started acting at 14, I know I've never considered failure.

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The internet to me is kind of like a black hole, and I never really go on it.

* * *

I never think it's right to chew gum in front of other people, but a lot of times I'll come in for a meeting chewing gum and I'll forget I'm chewing it. Then you don't want to swallow it because it stays in your system for seven years or something, so I've asked to throw it away. I've started to wonder if that's why I didn't get certain movies.

* * *

When you don't have anybody to take care of you, then you could go both ways: You could do whatever you want, or you could take charge and be your own parent.

* * *

How do I let the director know how obsessed I am and willing to do anything for the movie? Like, I wanted to write this one director a letter, so I wrote him a handwritten note. But then I was like, 'How many people are writing this guy handwritten letters? Is it going to seem cheesy? What do I do?'

* * *

I couldn't be happier about being a part of 'Hunger Games' and to play Katniss. I have a huge responsibility to the fans of this incredible book and I don't take it lightly. I will give everything I have to these movies and to this role to make it worthy of Suzanne Collins' masterpiece.

* * *

I picked up an issue of Cosmopolitan the other day that had tips for job interviews, because I was like, 'I need to get better at interviews.' The article was basically about how to get someone not to hate you in 20 minutes. Every single thing they told you not to do, I was like, 'I do that every day.'

* * * 

I want to play a character I've never been before-a crazy serial killer like Charlize Theron in Monster. I'd love to have to shave my head.

* * *

And when I'm on set, I'm just thinking about the script and of working. I think I've stayed focused on the work so much that I haven't really noticed my life start to change except for I've gotten busier.

* * *

I don't know if this is why everything has worked so well and I'm not sure I'd recommend this kind of thinking to anyone else, but I've always known I'd be successful in acting. I have certainly worked for it.

* * *

As hard as it is and as tired as I am, I force myself to get dinner at least once a week with my girlfriends, or have a sleepover. Otherwise my life is just work.

* * *

It was like pulling teeth trying to get me to L.A. I hated it for so long, but now I've got this great life here.

* * *

Nothing's sacred anymore. Those girls and I got so close. They were painting me naked every day for months. It was kind of like going to a really bizarre sleepover. It's what you guys imagine we do: One naked girl and seven pairs of hands all over her.

* * *

I've done archery for about six weeks, and rock climbing, tree climbing - and combat, running and vaulting. But also yoga and things like that, to stay catlike!

* * *

Anytime you're away from your home filming, it messes with your head.

* * *

I had to learn how to chop wood actually - I don't think my dad would have let me go chop wood in the backyard growing up.

* * *

But really, for the most part - doing a prequel is great because you do have room to kind of free this character and how they got to where they are instead of being a slave to exactly what the previous actor did.

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