Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence was born in Kentucky and was raised by her parents, along with her two older brothers. She started acting in local theater, but persuaded her parents to take her to New York when she was 14 so she could find a talent agent and pursue an acting career.

Her first acting gig was a role in the TBS comedy The Bill Engvall show. Before that, she merely appeared in small roles in television and bit roles in films.

In 2008, she got her first starring role in Lori Petty's small family drama, The Poker House, which Lawrence was awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance for.

It wasn't until 2010, when Lawrence appeared as Ree Dolly in Winter's Bone, that her acting skills were widely recognized. The film won Best Picture at the Sundance Film Festivel, and Lawrence herself was nominated for many awards for her breakthrough performance at the Golden Globe Awards, the Screen Actor Guild Awards, and became the second-youngest person ever to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and took home many awards as well, including the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance.

After her breakthrough appearance in Winter's Bone, Lawrence's career skyrocketed. She appeared as Mystique in X-Men: First Class and landed the coveted role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games series of films. Her role as Everdeen cemented herself as a major force to be reckoned with - she is currently the highest grossing female action heroine of all-time. Rolling Stone has labeled her the "most talented young actress in America".

With many film roles lined up in the future, Lawrence has emerged as a huge power player in Hollywood. She currently resides in Santa Monica, California.