Jennifer Lawrence has gone from playing small roles on television to becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars. Discovered in 2010 in the independent film Winter’s Bone, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence has access to international fame in 2012 playing as Katniss Everdeen in the saga of science fiction The Hunger Games, four feature films are released until 2015.
She is an American actress, director and producer born August 15, 1990 in Louisville. Revealed when she reached adulthood, she has gone through the stages one by one to become today one of the best actresses of her generation. Her natural, very demonstrative and empathetic playing appeals to critics, directors and the general public. She is known for several key roles such as Mystique in the second X-Men saga (2011-2019), Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games saga (2012-2015) or Aurora Lane in Passengers (2016).
Table of Contents
Childhood
Born in Louisville, the future actress spent her childhood there. She is raised as a tomboy with her two older brothers, Ben and Blaine, with whom she participates in many sports activities (hockey for example). She has the revelation at 14: she wants to become an actress. She convinces her parents to take her to New York where she is noticed by an agent. She continues her studies at the same time and helps her mother as an assistant nurse in the summer camp for which she works.
A cheerleader at school, Lawrence played a number of sports, including softball, field hockey and basketball on a boys’ team coached by his father. Of her dreams then, Lawrence says, “I always had a very clear idea of what I wanted: I wanted to be a mom, be a doctor, and move to Kentucky. But I always knew I wanted to be an actress. ” When her father worked at home, she played for him by dressing up as a clown or ballerina. Fond of horseback riding, she went regularly to a horse farm near her home and had 16 horses.. She has a deformed tailbone from a fall from a horse. She performs her first role in a play by her ward based on the Book of Jonah, where she plays a petite prostitute. Over the following years, Lawrence continued to take part in Church plays and his school musicals.
About her first years of life, she confided in an interview with author Marc Levy: “My nickname was“ Nitro ”, like nitroglycerin. I was hyperactive, curious about everything. When my mother talks to me about myself when I was younger, she always told me that there was like a light in me, a spark that kept me going. When I entered school, that light went out. We never knew what it was, some kind of social anxiety. Yet I had friends. I especially believe that I did not feel smart, because I was not a good enough student… I thought that some people are stupid, but end up doing it and that I was one of them. I went to see a shrink, nothing was helping. One day I begged my parents to take me to a casting, we went to New York and that’s where I started acting. Barely on stage, my mother saw the change taking place in me. She saw my anxieties disappear. She found her daughter, the one who had that light and that pre-school joy. I had finally found a way, opened the doors to a universe that I understood, which made me feel good and made me happy, because I felt capable of it, whereas before I felt good for nothing. That’s why mom fought so that I could be an actress. “
At the age of 14, she traveled with her family to New York to participate in a casting. During her first audition, she manages to impress agents with honesty and transparency, showing it could play any character. Her parents then decide to support her and take two mortgages on their house to come and settle with her in New York and thus allow her to try to break through.
With the consent of her parents, she interrupted his schooling to college to pursue an acting career. In an interview given in 2018, she claims to have no diploma. The young girl multiplies the auditions and turns in some commercials but, determined to become an actress, she refuses the modeling proposals at that time. Jennifer Lawrence often returns to Louisville where she works as an assistant nurse in her mother’s summer camp, she recently declared that if she had not managed to make a living from acting, she would have wanted to be a nurse.
Television debut
She debuted at the age of 16 on television in minor roles. She plays in the TV movies Company Town and Not Another High School Show and makes a few appearances in the Cold Case TV series: Affaires classified, Medium or Monk. She began to stand out, thanks to her role in the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007-2009).
In this sitcom, composed of thirty episodes, she interprets Lauren Pearson, the eldest daughter of the family and rebellious teenager. The series, which lasted for three seasons, allows the young actress to obtain her first favorable reviews, in particular by Tom Shales of the Washington Post, who considers her as “a thief of the scene”, while David Hinckley of the New York Daily News writes that she succeeds in delivering ” the perpetual exasperation of adolescent girls ”. She won the Young Artist Award for best performance in a television series in 2009.
An early arrival at the top
While the reviews for her character on the sitcom are rave, Jennifer Lawrence sees her notoriety grow day by day. This allows her to take his first steps on the big screen at only 18 years old with Garden Party (2008), The Poker House (2008) then Far from the Scorched Earth (2008). But it was her role as the young Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old girl looking for her drug-dealer father in Winter’s Bone (2010) that definitely launched her career. Both touching and natural in this role, Jennifer Lawrence is noticed by many directors, including Matthew Vaughn who convinces her to play the mutant Mystique in X-Men: The Beginning (2011).
A charismatic actress, she successfully passes the casting to play Katniss Everdeen from the movie Hunger Games (2012). The film becomes one of the biggest successes at the American box office with a woman as main hero thanks in particular to the so realistic play of its headliner. She is still noticed when she gives the answer to Bradley Cooper in Happiness Therapy (2012) or when she plays Rosalyn Rosenfeld in the very successful American Bluff (2013).
At the same time, she does not hesitate to get out of her comfort zone, especially when she plays the eponymous character of Joy (2015), the sweet Aurora in Passengers (2016) or even when she participates in the UFO. Mother! (2017).
Net Worth
In 2016, Lawrence was named one of Forbes Highest Paid Women in Hollywood. That year, she earned $ 46 million. Jennifer Lawrence has a net worth of $ 130 million.
International influence
She reprises her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire of Francis Lawrence, who became the most successful franchise box office with $ 865 million in global revenues.
In 2014, she received during the ceremony of the Golden Globe trophy for best supporting actress for her performance in the film by David O. Russell, American Hustle and was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress in the same film. She plays for the second time under the direction of the director and also reunites with Bradley Cooper. The former Happiness Therapy duo are joined by Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. The film achieved critical and commercial success, with $ 251 million in worldwide revenue.
That same year, Jennifer Lawrence is in the cast of Bryan Singer’s blockbuster, X-Men: Days of Future Past, where she resumes her role as Raven Darkholme / Mystique. This time, for her transformation into a blue mutant, she wears a jumpsuit to avoid spending hours in makeup and developing allergic reactions to the products used. The film brings in $ 747 million in worldwide revenue.
On May 2016, Jennifer Lawrence reprizes her role as mutant Raven Darkholme / Mystique in X-Men: Apocalypse, directed by Bryan Singer. The film is a commercial success with $ 534 million in worldwide revenue. Then, at the end of December of the same year, she starred in Passengers, a science fiction film directed by Morten Tyldum, alongside actor Chris Pratt. The film does not convince the critics and obtains only mixed success at the box office with more than 300 million dollars of worldwide receipts for a budget of 110 million.
Advertising
In 2012, after Mila Kunis and Marion Cotillard, she became the face of the Christian Dior brand and posed for the Miss Dior range of handbags. Subsequently, her collaboration with the brand extended to ready-to-wear and all accessories. In 2015, she represented the Dior Addict lipstick range. For Dior’s fall 2017 collection, she poses in a series of black and white photos by Brigitte Lacombe. In 2018, she became the face of Joy, a Dior fragrance.
Image in the profession and the media
Donald Sutherland, also an actor in The Hunger Games, compares Jennifer Lawrence to Laurence Olivier and describes her as an “exquisite and brilliant actress”. David O. Russell, who directed him in Happiness Therapy, enjoys her effortless playing that makes her performance natural. Jennifer Lawrence has never done theater or taken drama lessons but she does not consider it a handicap:“I have always observed people and am fascinated by their reactions and feelings. I think that’s the best way to learn – looking at real people, listening to them and studying them ”.
In 2012, her performances as an actress were hailed by Rolling Stone magazine, which presented her as “the most talented young actress in America”. In 2013, Jennifer Lawrence was ranked among the hundred most influential people in the world according to Time magazine and she was named “most powerful woman in the entertainment industry” by the American Elle. The same year, she earned $ 26 million according to Forbes magazine.
Private Life
She is close to her two colleagues from The Hunger Games, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson. She is also very close to actress Emma Stone and the Kardashians family, Kim, Khloe, Kandle and more. She is also the best friend of actress and comedian, Amy Schumer.
On August 31, 2014, she is the victim, as well as several American celebrities, of a hacker who distributes on the web intimate photos obtained fraudulently via the cloud. Stressing that these images were not intended to be published, Lawrence calls this piracy a “sex crime” and a “sexual violation”. And she does not hesitate to declare that “anyone who looks at these photos is committing a sexual offense and should curl up in shame”.
In December 2010, Jennifer began a relationship with British actor Nicholas Hoult – met on the set of X-Men: The Beginning. They split for the first time in January 2013, before reconciling six months later, following the filming of X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, they separate definitively in June 2014, after three and a half years of relationship.
Shortly after her split from Nicholas Hoult, Jennifer began an affair with British singer Chris Martin – the frontman of the famous group Coldplay, which ended five months later, at the end of October 2014. They got back together in January 2015, before separating again in June of the same year. In September 2016, she became the girlfriend of the American director, Darren Aronofsky, but their story ended in October 2017.
Since June 2018, she shares the life of Cooke Maroney, an American art dealer. The couple became engaged in May 2019, then married five months later, on October 19 in the city of Newport in the State of Rhode Island. In September 2021, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child.
Political Activities
Jennifer Lawrence is very involved in the fight for women’s rights. She supports the Planned Parenthood organization and the pro-choice abortion movement. Feminist, she believes that women can be both strong while remaining sensitive and empathetic.
In an interview with Vogue, she castigates Kim Davis, a civil servant from the same state as her, Kentucky, whose refusal to provide marriage certificates to same-sex couples has been highly publicized.
Despite having been raised in a Republican family, Lawrence opposes Donald Trump’s policies and declares that she “ can not imagine supporting a party that does not support the fundamental rights of women”. In 2015, she wrote an open letter to Lenny, actress Lena Dunham’s feminist newsletter. In this letter, she criticizes wage inequalities between men and women and denounces sexism in Hollywood. She also talks about her own experiences as an actress and reports that she was paid less than her male partners in the film, American Bluff.
Filmography
●2008: Garden Party by Jason Freeland
●2008: The Poker House de Lori Petty
●2008: Far from the Scorched Earth ( The Burning Plain ) by Guillermo Arriaga
●2010: Winter’s Bone de Debra Granik
●2011: Le Complexe du Beaver ( The Beaver ) by Jodie Foster
●2011: To Madness ( Like Crazy ) by Drake Doremus
●2011: X-Men: Le Commencement (X-Men : First Class) by Matthew Vaughn
●2012: Hunger Games (The Hunger Games) by Gary Ross
●2012: Happiness Therapy (Silver Linings Playbook) by David O. Russellll
●2012: La Maison au bout de la rue ( House at the End of the Street ) by Mark Tonderai
●2013: The Devil You Know by James Oakley
●2013: Hunger Games : L’Embrasement (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) by Francis Lawrence
●2013: American Bluff (American Hustle) by David O. Russell
●2014: X-Men: Days of Future Past by Bryan Singer
●2014: Serena 159 by Susanne Bier
●2014: Hunger Games: La Révolte, part 1 ( The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1)
●2015: Hunger Games: La Révolte, part 2 ( The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2)
●2015: Joy de David O. Russell
●2016: X-Men: Apocalypse of Bryan Singer
●2016: A Beautiful Planet by Toni Myers
●2016: Passengers by Morten Tyldum
●2017: Mother! by Darren Aronofsky
●2018: Red Sparrow by Francis Lawrence
●2019: X-Men: Dark Phoenix by Simon Kinberg
Charity
Jennifer Lawrence shows her support to several charitable organizations such as World Food Program, Feeding America and Thirst Project. With her partners from Hunger Games, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, she helps to sensitize UN to the problems of poverty and hunger. She raises more than $ 40,000 at a premiere of Hunger Games: Burning Up to benefit Saint Mary’s Center, an organization helping the disabled located in her hometown of Louisville.
She is a partner with Chideo, a platform that raises funds by broadcasting exclusive videos for “important causes”. Jennifer Lawrence shares her movie Serena at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
She collaborates with Omaze to raise funds at the premiere of Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 1. She teams up with Hutcherson and Hemsworth for Prank Il FWD, a charitable initiative that raises funds for the nonprofit Do Something.
In 2015, she created the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation, which supports charities such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Special Olympics. The following year, Lawrence donated $ 2 million to Louisville Children’s Hospital to help build a cardiology intensive care unit.
A fashion icon
In 2012, the success of Jennifer Lawrence allowed her to make the front page of prestigious magazines, such as Rolling Stone, British Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily. The same year, she succeeded Mila Kunis and Marion Cotillard and became the Dior muse with Miss Dior bags, one of the best luxury bags. She appeared in 2014 with a new look and short hair. The same year, the pretty blonde was voted ” sexiest woman in the world ” by the FHM magazine. In 2015, she continued her contract with Dior for the advertising campaign for Dior Addict lipsticks.
Scandals
Nude photos
Jennifer Lawrence was among the victims of the scandal in 2014 when a hacker hacked many clouds. Among the famous victims, the actress and some photos that portrayed Jennifer Lawrence naked were disseminated.
Jennifer Lawrence speaks for the first time about the hacker attack she suffered, those naked photos stolen from her iCloud account and spread on the Net, which she had taken for ex-boyfriend Nicholas Hoult. Several times, she tried to write a statement, but failed: “Every single thing I tried to write made me cry or angry. I started writing apologies, but I had nothing to apologize for. I have been in a loving, healthy, beautiful relationship for four years. It was a long-distance story, either your boyfriend is watching porn or watching you.
The actress asks for more legal protection for this type of crime: «It’s not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is sexual violence. That’s disgusting. The law must be changed, we must change. That’s why those sites are responsible. Just the fact that someone can be sexually exploited and violated, and that someone else’s first thought is to profit from it, is so far from me. I can’t imagine that one can be so devoid of humanity and respect, so empty inside.
