In 2006, Lawrence booked her first paid acting job with a role in the television film Company Town. That was followed up with guest roles in a number of television shows including Monk and Medium. In 2007, she was cast as the rebellious daughter Lauren on the TBS show The Bill Engvall Show. The series ran for three seasons and won her many accolades. The Washington Post wrote that she was a scene-stealer. The New York Daily News wrote that Lawrence was exceptional in “delivering the perpetual exasperation of teenage girls.” She won a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in a TV Series for her role in 2009.
Lawrence’s breakthrough role came in the 2010 film Winter’s Bone. Jennifer was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the movie. After her dramatic turn in Winter’s Bone, Lawrence looked for something lighter. She found that in 2011’s X-Men: First Class in which she played the shape-shifting mutant Mystique.
From there, Jennifer landed what is arguably her biggest and most famous role to date as the heroine Katniss Everdeen in Suzane Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy in 2012. That same year, she appeared opposite Bradley Cooper in the David O. Russell film Silver Linings Playbook. In the film, her character has a relationship with a man with bipolar disorder. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress for her work on Silver Linings Playbook. Sequels to the Hunger Games and X Men films followed.