Actress Deep Focus: Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence is a woman who is confident, goofy and tenacious. Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up as a wild child, earning the nickname “Nitro” from her family.

Lawrence was always destined to be an actress, as she played pretend with her friends and family all the time. At the age of 14, Lawrence went on a quick trip to New York with her mother, and she was scouted on the streets by a model agency.

Honestly, this is amazing and truly showcases how personable Lawrence is. The model agency had her shooting for Abercrombie, pretending to play football in the new clothing line.

However, those professional photos were never released because Lawrence was running around crazy. This aspect of Lawrence being too real and not pretending to be perfect sets up the tone of her entire career and the A-list actress she was to become.

From the ages of 17 to 19, Lawrence was cast as Lauren Pearson on “The Bill Engvall Show.” This sitcom ran for three seasons and was a steady paycheck for Lawrence as well as a great opportunity to learn about filmmaking.

Shortly after “The Bill Engvall Show” ended, Lawrence got her real big break playing Ree Dolly in “Winter’s Bone” at the age of 20. This movie led to Lawrence’s first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Lawrence fought extremely hard for this opportunity. Initially at the auditions in LA, Lawrence was told she was too pretty for the role, but after a red-eye flight to NYC, she re-auditioned and finally got the part.

In 2011 Lawrence joined the X-Men franchise in “X-Men: First Class” as Mystique/Raven. Although Lawrence always claimed to feel a passion for indie films, the X-Men franchise was compelling.

The one con of portraying Mystique was standing for eight hours to do makeup and body paint. This truly demonstrates how devoted to this career Lawrence is.

The following year, at the age of 22 Lawrence was cast as Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games.” This moment in history absolutely tilted the Earth off its axis.

Lawrence recalls in multiple interviews that she remembers when she accepted the role as Katniss, that she knew it would be life-changing. The year prior “Twilight” had come out, and she had seen firsthand what happened to Kristen Stewart.

During the start-up of “The Hunger Games,” Lawrence was questioned if she would lose weight for the role. Proudly, Lawrence said that she would not lose weight.

The year after the first “The Hunger Games” movie was released, “Silver Linings Playbook” was released. Directed by David O. Russell, Lawrence plays Tiffany and portrays a young woman with bipolar disorder.

“Silver Linings Playbook” was actually filmed before “The Hunger Games,” however it was released about eight months later. This portrayal won Lawrence an Oscar for Best Actress in 2012.

At the height of her career, Lawrence did another movie in 2013 with director Russell and co-stars Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. “American Hustle” got Lawrence a nomination for “Best Supporting Actress” at the 2014 Oscars.

2013 also saw the release of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” the second film in “The Hunger Games” tetralogy.

In 2014 there was a famous iCloud leak which resulted in a sexual violation of many actresses, including Lawrence. This was truly the most invasive aspect of Lawrence’s career in the celebrity industry.

Although this iCloud leak was a personal struggle for Lawrence, that did not stop her from producing excellent-quality films. In 2014 she starred in “X-Men: Days Of Future Past,” “Serena” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.”

At the end of 2015, Lawrence had two movies released: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” and “Joy.” Lawrence had officially wrapped the story of Katniss Everdeen at the age of 25. “Joy” was the last movie Lawrence did with director Russell, and she was nominated for “Best Actress” at the 2016 Oscars.

2016 saw Lawrence release two movies: “Passengers” with Chris Pratt and “X-Men: Apocalypse.”

The hardest movie Lawrence ever made was the psychological horror film “Mother!” which was directed by Darren Aronofsky and released in 2017. During the filming process, Lawrence progresses into a dark mental state and is concerned she won’t come out of it.

Lawrence combatted this mentally taxing role with a “Kardashian Tent.” This was where she could calm down and watch “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” after extremely emotional scenes.

A year later Lawrence went to film “Red Sparrow,” which was her first movie with her personal nudity. Lawrence has spoken out that her nudity in “Red Sparrow” was an act of claiming back her body and creating art with what was stolen from her in the 2014 iCloud hacking.

“X-Men: Dark Phoenix” was released in 2019, and was immediately hated on by a large number of fans. Around the time this film was released, Lawrence announced that she was taking a break from acting.

The reason for this hiatus was that Lawrence felt that people had seen too much of her, and she also wanted to focus on political activism. Lawrence began working with Represent Us, which brings transparency to politics and aims to end political corruption.

On October 19, 2019, Lawrence married Cooke Maroney, who is an art dealer in Manhattan. They both currently live in New York City together.

In 2021 Lawrence came back from her hiatus and filmed “Don’t Look Up,” with co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Timothée Chalamet. This film isn’t a fan favorite, but it can be honored as a combination of Lawrence’s two loves: acting and politics.

In February 2022 Lawrence gave birth to her baby boy Cy Maroney. Lawrence officially became a mother at 32 years old and absolutely adores her son.

2022 also saw Lawrence act in her first movie with her film production company “Excellent Cadaver,” which was founded in 2018. “Causeway” brings Lawrence back to her passion for indie films and her desire to create something meaningful.

“No Hard Feelings” was released in the summer of 2023, Lawrence’s first romantic comedy. This humorous and lighthearted film truly expresses her personality.

As of right now, Lawrence is attached to random film projects, but nothing is in production. Most recently, Lawrence was asked to join the cast of “Jurassic World” but apparently declined the role. This decision by Lawrence might dictate that she is still taking time off to raise her son Cy, or that she has extremely high standards for the next film she does.

Fans are hopeful and anticipatedly waiting for a new Lawrence film to be announced. However, there is an appreciation of the immense amount of work Lawrence has already accomplished at the age of 33.

Grace Bowman is a third-year majoring in biology. To contact her, email gab5585@psu.edu.