How Jennifer Lawrence Became A Massive Star Overnight
Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most revered and universally appreciated celebrities in modern Hollywood, and hers is a name most people know (though some still call her "J-Law"). The ultra GIF-capable actress has managed to become one of the rare stars who is as popular as she is esteemed, and her mastery of pop culture seemed to come out of nowhere as she landed one franchise after another while still holding jobs. prestigious. that earned him all kinds of praise.
However, despite all her fame and fortune, Lawrence is also quite humble and down to earth, which makes many fans even more intrigued by the actress. So how did Jennifer Lawrence establish herself as Hollywood's "It" girl so quickly? Let's take a look at how she became such a massive star, and how her rise to the top was not as sudden as it might seem.
Learning at work
As smart and articulate as she is, some fans might be surprised to learn that Jennifer Lawrence has very little in the way of formal education. The actress dropped out of high school at age 14 to pursue her early passion for acting. She revealed in a 60 minute interview that she didn't even get a GED or high school diploma. "I am self-taught," he explained. I wanted to forge my own path. I found what I wanted to do, and I didn't want anything to get in the way. Even friends, for many years, were not as important to me as my career.
One of the reasons Lawrence made the decision to skip the rest of her studies in favor of work was that she felt like a fish out of water in the educational world, saying, “I struggled in school. I never felt very smart. When I'm reading a script and I feel like I know exactly what it would look like if someone felt that way, that was a whole part of my brain that I didn't even know existed, something I could trust. And I didn't want to let it go. Fortunately for her, her instinct, which was destined to be an actress, turned out to be correct.
An auspicious start
Lawrence earned bragging rights very early in her fledgling career. She told W magazine that her first audition, which was for a veterinary educational video, resulted in a callback, which gave her an extra boost in her passage early on. "I didn't work for long, but I walked for a long time, 'Well, I got a call for the first thing I auditioned for, so…" Eventually, she landed her first role in a 2005 promo short for MTV's My Super Sweet 16, which which led her to thank the network when she accepted her first Screen Actors Guild Award, as that role was what earned her a SAG membership card to become part of the organization.
After their MTV promotion, TV concerts began to arrive. She starred in several episodes of shows like Monk and a Half before landing a regular spot in the cast of The Bill Engvall Show. That series ran for three seasons and Lawrence convinced him that he would be a comedy star forever. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “I was totally satisfied when I was on a sitcom because I had a steady salary. And I thought, 'Maybe I can find a way to be in sitcoms forever.' […] I never dreamed that I could have this kind of career «.
The little indie that could
After landing roles in a number of independent films, Lawrence landed a role in Deborah Granik Winter Bone. Granik then revealed to The Daily Beast that she cast the then-promising man for the role because "he has the ability to show different sides, colors, reaction shapes, and responses." Although Lawrence is largely considered one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, Granik said it was his average appearance in the audition process that intrigued her: “He looked like a realistic human being. She had no entourage or handlers. And it was very important for everyone to audition without makeup. Granik continued, "The second time I met her, she really communicated very vividly what she wanted for the character, and it was hers."
Hers was a match made in Hollywood heaven because Lawrence was a revelation in the picture and earned an Academy Award nomination for the role. She told Vanity Fair that she was more disoriented by Oscar's initial buzz than anything else. "It's very strange. I think it's actually so big that it doesn't fit in my head. So it's just bouncing, ”she explained. "It's a compliment. People really, really thought I did a good job of telling me these things. It is very nice and it means a lot; It's a great honor. But I don't think something like that can sink. At least a 20-year-old.
Then came the franchises
Lawrence's low-budget film work would continue with Like Crazy and The Beaver, but he soon took advantage of their buzz by venturing into the land of the franchise as Raven / Mystique in X-Men: First Class. Director Matthew Vaughn told GQ that he cast her for the role not only because she was pretty enough to step into the shoes of a former model (note: Rebecca Romijn had previously portrayed her), but because she was fierce. “To be frank, a lot of these kids assume that with just having a good set of teeth and teeth, smiling so that the camera is enough. I needed someone who could act, "he said, adding," She's got a ball game on her. " Soon after, she would land another franchise role that defined her career.
Few book-to-screen adaptations drew as much anticipation and fan cast as Gary Ross 'takes on Suzanne Collins' YA mega-successful trilogy The Hunger Games, so picking the right person to become the show's imperfect heroine. Katniss Everdeen was essential. Ross was intrigued by Lawrence's esteemed work on her first big breakthrough, recounting Entertainment Weekly, “I watched Winter Bone, and I thought it was phenomenally talented and fascinating and amazing, and that it had so much power. And then we had a meeting and I found out that he was a completely compelling and intelligent person. But then she came in and read for me and knocked me out. “Both films would be successful and would generate multiple sequels in which Lawrence would star.
Coming to the silly things
Once Lawrence became Mystique and Katniss, she soon found herself all over the promo tour circuit, having everyone on points on a regular basis. Whether it was bombarding her co-stars to joke about rashes or calling herself a "troll" by justifying why she didn't like watching her own movies, she wasn't afraid to let loose and make people laugh, even when His papers were serious enough matters.
She later told Marie Claire (via MTV News) that she didn't want to "constantly be a GIF" as a result of her antics, but she couldn't help it for a while there, when she was constantly doing silly things like causing a car accident because she thought she saw Honey Boo. -Boo, losing his mind to the Kardashians and, of course, constantly falling on the red carpet. She was also not afraid to give up the Hollywood starvation diet and openly praise all kinds of junk food at events, not to mention happily waving her fat arm for the cameras. All of this luscious frankness turned Jennifer Lawrence into that rare type of actress who feels truly relatable with fans, making it so much easier to support her continued success.
Praise ahoy
Some stars might have a hard time balancing time spent on studio fee with their other passion projects, but Jennifer Lawrence seemed to have no trouble navigating from green screen stages with big action sequences back to more intimate productions where she would have to do the heavy lifting. with her dialogue and ability to move. Shortly after The Hunger Games' release, she appeared in the David O. Russell film Silver Linings Playbook and surprised critics with her game-changing performance as a grieving widow who turns to another troubled soul for her. relieve. The drastically different part to anything fans had seen of her up to that point, and she went through awards season, picking up a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for the movie (and falling on the way to pick up her Oscar, of course).
The following year she would be at the center of awards season again after racking up multiple nominations, and another Golden Globe, for her turn as the tragic and terrible wife of a con artist on Russell American Hustle. She was nominated again two years later for her third collaboration with the director, AlegrÃa. Thanks to those last two nods, she twice made history as the youngest actress to receive so many nominations at age 22 and 23, respectively.
Using your voice
Lawrence might be a joker, but he's also not afraid to speak up for the causes that matter to him. While she often jokes about her weight, she took a more serious tone when she criticized Hollywood's impossible weight standards, revealing that she was once forced to be naked in a row and was punished by a producer for her size. She also refused to be embarrassed after private photos of her posing nude were hacked and leaked online, insisting on Vanity Fair, “Just because I'm a public figure, just because I'm an actress, doesn't mean I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory.
Following Sony's 2014 email leak, which revealed that she had been paid less than her co-stars on American Hustle, Lawrence wrote an opinion piece for Lenny's Letter in which she destroyed the Hollywood gender pay gap. Since then, she has spoken about the political climate, engaged in hyperlocal initiatives, and went public with her views on campaign finance issues. She is also a board member of the corruption advocacy group Represent.Us and founded the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation to support youth. In other words, just as Lawrence's name and presence help sell movie tickets, she has also tapped into her influence as an important voice in the public domain.
A timely rest
Even Jennifer Lawrence is not infallible. After so many career victories, Lawrence experienced some back-to-back casualties, when movies like Passengers and Red Sparrow failed to garner the same kind of buzz as some of her earlier work. So instead of producing another big list of successful applicants, the actress decided to step back for a while and invest her time in other projects.
In early 2018, she announced that she would take a year off the screen scene to devote her time to her political interests. She told Entertainment Tonight, "I'm going to take next year off," revealing, "I'm going to work with this organization as part of Represent.Us ... trying to involve young people politically at the local level. She continued: 'It has nothing to do with partisans [politics]. … It's just anti-corruption and things that try to pass state laws that can help prevent corruption, fix our democracy. Although she continued to line up other projects, including her role as Mystique for Dark Phoenix - perhaps it was a wise decision on her part to avoid any long-term fatigue that J-Law fans might have gained from being at the top of the A list. for so many years.
