For portraying a troubled young widow in the romance Silver Linings Playbook (2012), she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the second-youngest winner in the category at age 22.

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born on August 15, 1990, in Indian Hills, Kentucky, to Gary, a construction company owner, and Karen (née Koch), a summer camp manager.

[20] She received her first part as a series regular on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, in which she played Lauren, the rebellious teenage daughter of a family living in suburban Louisville, Colorado.

[21] Tom Shales of The Washington Post considered her a scene stealer in her part, and David Hinckley of the New York Daily News wrote that she was successful in "deliver[ing] the perpetual exasperation of teenage girls".

Mark Feeney of The Boston Globe described her role as "a thankless task", but Derek Elley of Variety praised her as the production's prime asset.

The film featured her as 17-year-old Ree Dolly, a poverty-stricken teenage girl in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and younger siblings while searching for her missing father.

She traveled to the Ozarks a week before filming began to live with the family on whom the story was based, and in preparation for the role, she learned to fight, skin squirrels, and chop wood.

[34][35] David Denby of The New Yorker asserted that the film "would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic",[36] and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "her performance is more than acting; it's a gathering storm.

[42] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times considered the film to be an "intensely wrought and immensely satisfying love story" and credited all three performers for "making their [characters'] yearning palpable".

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the series tells the story of the teenage heroine Everdeen as she joins rebel forces against a totalitarian government after winning a brutal televised annual event.

"[60] Similarly, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called her an "ideal screen actress", believing that she had embodied the Everdeen of the novel, and added that she "anchors [the film] with impressive gravity and presence".

[61] With worldwide revenues of over $690 million,[54] The Hunger Games became a top-grossing film featuring a female lead,[62] making Lawrence the highest-grossing action heroine of all time.

[64] Later in 2012, Lawrence played Tiffany Maxwell, a troubled young widow, in David O. Russell's romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook.

The film is an adaptation of Matthew Quick's novel of the same name, and follows her character as she finds companionship with Pat Solitano Jr. (played by Bradley Cooper), a man with bipolar disorder.

[70] Her final film of the year was alongside Max Thieriot and Elisabeth Shue in Mark Tonderai's critically panned thriller House at the End of the Street.

[58] Writing for The Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek believed that the actress' portrayal of Everdeen made her an ideal role model, stating that "there's no sanctimony or pretense of false modesty in the way Lawrence plays her.

Inspired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Abscam sting operation, the film is set against the backdrop of political corruption in 1970s New Jersey.

[64] Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent found Lawrence to be "brilliant", "funny and acerbic" in her part, and highlighted an improvised scene in which she aggressively kisses her husband's mistress (played by Amy Adams) on the lips.

[89] In a review of the final installment in the series, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times drew similarities between Everdeen's journey as a rebel leader and Lawrence's rise to stardom, stating that the actress "now inhabits the role as effortlessly as breathing, partly because, like all great stars, she seems to be playing a version of her 'real' self.

[54] Lawrence worked with David O. Russell for the third time on the biopic Joy (2015), in which she played the eponymous character, a troubled single mother who becomes a successful businesswoman after inventing the Miracle Mop.

[99] Lawrence was paid $20 million to star in the science fiction romance Passengers (2016), and received top billing over co-star Chris Pratt.

[101] Passengers was met with underwhelming reviews, much to the surprise of its cast and crew, but Lawrence initially defended the film by calling it a "tainted, complicated love story.

[105] The film was better received by critics;[106] Walter Addiego of the San Francisco Chronicle labeled it "assaultive" and a "deliberate test of audience endurance", and credited Lawrence for "never allow[ing] herself to be reduced simply to a howling victim.

"[107] The following year, she starred as Dominika Egorova, a Russian spy who makes contact with a mysterious Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent (played by Joel Edgerton), in Francis Lawrence's espionage thriller Red Sparrow, based on Jason Matthews' novel of the same name.

"[111] In 2019, Lawrence made her fourth and final appearance as Mystique, in the superhero film Dark Phoenix, which emerged as a critical and box-office failure.

[116] Reviews for the film were mixed, but critics mostly praised the performances of Lawrence and DiCaprio,[117] who were described as "powerhouse" by Ian Sandwell of Digital Spy and "a delight to watch" by Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV.

[120] It broke the record for the most views, 152 million hours in a single week in Netflix history, and ranks as the platform's second most-watched film within 28 days of release.

[126] Under Excellent Cadaver, Lawrence produced Bread and Roses (2023), a documentary film from director Sahra Mani about Afghan women under Taliban rule.

[135] David O. Russell, who directed Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Joy, has said that her acting "is effortless and she makes it look easy".

[168] She partnered with the charity broadcast network Chideo to raise funds for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games by screening her film Serena (2014).