Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress. 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 of all time. 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 began her acting career in the TBS comedy series The Bill Engvall Show, playing Lauren Pearson, the oldest daughter. The series premiered in September 2007 and ran for three seasons. Actors on the show, including Lawrence, won a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performers in a TV Series, and Lawrence was nominated for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama).
In 2008, Lawrence made her film debut with a small role in Garden Party, followed by a starring role in Lori Petty's family drama The Poker House, as a young victim of abuse. She was awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance for her role in the latter film. She next appeared in Guillermo Arriaga's directorial feature debut The Burning Plain (2008), opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her performance earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Emerging Actress at the Venice Film Festival. She also appeared in the music video for the song "The Mess I Made" by Parachute.
Lawrence's lead role in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone (2010), which won Best Picture at the Sundance Film Festival, is often cited as a breakout performance for her. She portrays a 17-year-old in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and younger siblings while searching for her missing father.
Her performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. David Denby, writing for The New Yorker, said the film "would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic playing Ree." Peter Travers from Rolling Stone opined that "her performance is more than acting, it's a gathering storm. Lawrence's eyes are a roadmap to what's tearing Ree apart."Lawrence was awarded the National Board of review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 2011, Lawrence co-starred in the independent film Like Crazy, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and she appeared in The Beaver, a dark comedy starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson.
The latter film was completed in 2009 but was stalled due to controversy concerning Gibson. She also starred alongside James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in X-Men: First Class (2011), a prequel to the previously released X-Men film series. She portrayed the shape-shifting villain Mystique, played by Rebecca Romijn in earlier X-Men films. First Class was a commercial success, earning $353.6 million at the international box office. Lawrence joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that year.
