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Happy Birthday Jennifer Lawrence: Exploring Her Top 10 Roles As Actress Turns 34
A look at Jennifer Lawrence's impressive career, from indie hits like Winter's Bone to blockbuster franchises like The Hunger Games and collaborations with David O. Russell. Here are her top movies!
While many actors have found niches throughout their careers, Jennifer Lawrence has successfully straddled several of them. After landing one-off roles on shows like Monk and Cold Case, Lawrence landed a series-regular role as Bill Engvall's oldest daughter on TBS's The Bill Engvall Show. After the show was canceled, she became an indie darling with her first leading role in Winter's Bone in 2010.
She starred in two juggernaut franchises, playing Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and Mystique in the X-Men movies. In addition, she worked with writer/director David O. Russell and starred in several of his films, including the Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Jennifer is turning 34 and listed below are the best Jennifer Lawrence movies, ranked.
10. Don't Look Up (2021)
Lawrence gets another chance to show off her comedic side in Adam McKay's dark, politically charged satire, Don't Look Up, which considers what a disaster movie would look like if scientists were stopped by red tape at every turn.
As Kate Dibiasky, Lawrence plays a doctoral candidate in astronomy who has a Carl Sagan figure on her desk but listens to Wu-Tang Clan while she works. When she and her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), discover a comet hurtling toward Earth set to cause an extinction-level event, they immediately try to tell everyone about the situation, including the president (Meryl Streep), only to discover that she is more concerned about the upcoming midterm election.
She also gets to sport a decidedly different look in the film, allowing us to see Lawrence's humorous side. Lawrence's performance is one of many things that makes her character stand out.
9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 / Part 2 (2014 / 2015)
By the end of the Hunger Games saga, everyone knew everything there was to know about Lawrence's character, Katniss Everdeen, but there was still plenty of action left. With Katniss teaming up with Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) to fight Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) and save Panem, the stakes are higher than ever in these two final films. Splitting Mockingjay into two parts results in some padding, unfortunately.
8. Causeway (2022)
As the U.S. soldier Lynsey returns home from a tour in Afghanistan after suffering a traumatic brain injury as a result of an IED explosion, Lawrence returns to her indie roots after doing a spate of big-budget, high-profile films in the past few years.
The moment Lynsey returns to her mother's home in New Orleans, she wants nothing more than to return to duty, but her doctor is reluctant to let her do so. However, during her rehab, she befriends James (Brian Tyree Henry), an auto mechanic who has also been dealing with mental trauma. Lawrence proves that despite her franchise flicks, she still has the goods when it comes to subtlety in this film.
7. The Hunger Games (2012)
The Hunger Games made Lawrence a box-office sensation, not Winter's Bone, the film that made her a critical darling. Based on Suzanne Collins' first YA novel, this dystopian saga takes place in a dystopian future where teens compete against representatives from the 12 districts of Panem in a televised fight to the death.
Taking center stage is Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, who steps in to replace her little sister after she was selected for the games. Consequently, she triggers a series of events that thrill moviegoers for several years to come across three additional films. It is an understatement to say that Lawrence thrives in the role.
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Days of Future Past is the first installment to make a real effort to adapt a story straight from the comics, one of the most famous arcs in X-Men history. (X-Men: First Class doesn't count because it's about as loose as you can get). For the first time since 2003's X2, director Bryan Singer returned to the franchise with the film.
In the time-bending flick, mutants, anyone with the potential to become mutants or even anyone who tries to protect mutants, are hunted down and killed by giant robots called Sentinels in a not-too-distant dystopian future — as if comic book movies had any other kind. X-Men members devise a plan to send Wolverine's consciousness back to the 1970s to prevent the aforementioned future from happening.
5. X-Men: First Class (2011)
With the first three X-Men films continuing the same storyline, the fourth film decided to mix things up and offer a fresh take on Marvel's most famous mutant team. X-Men: First Class, directed by Matthew Vaughn of Kick-Ass fame, was originally intended to reboot the franchise, but ended up being a prequel due to the events of Days of Future Past. But we're getting ahead of ourselves...
In the film, Lawrence plays Raven, Xavier's childhood friend who later becomes Mystique, who is committed to Lehnsherr. To portray Mystique in her blue form, Lawrence reportedly worked out two hours a day while also spending eight hours in the makeup chair. It is enough to say that the final product is visually impressive, but Lawrence also delivers a solid performance, one decidedly more popcorn-friendly than her breakout role in Winter's Bone.
4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
A film series that knows it's going to become a franchise from the beginning (i.e. those based on existing intellectual properties) is likely to have a better second chapter, as you've finished the "origin story," so you can really let the characters — and the actors — fly. In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) directs with a darkly sustained vision.
It's a much more epic game this time around, with Katniss (Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) facing a host of entertaining opponents. Especially Jena Malone's Johanna, who sneers through nearly every line... not that there's anything wrong with that. At the center of the show is Lawrence, who portrays Katniss as an "icon of girl power" and a "feral face of revolt."
3. Winter's Bone (2010)
In Debra Granik's adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel, Lawrence received her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress, and at least part of the credit should go to her mother. Lawrence told Interview Magazine in 2010 that her mother read the book five or six years before the film was released. 'Jennifer, if they ever make this into a movie, you'd be perfect for it,' she said. I didn't listen to her, because she's my mother, but five years later I got the script and auditioned."
2. American Hustle (2013)
The poster alone sold moviegoers on seeing Lawrence and costars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, and Jeremy Renner in retro hairstyles and outfits. With David O. Russell at the helm, it was always going to be better than average.
Taking inspiration from an FBI Abscam operation that began in the late '70s, American Hustle follows the exploits of two con artists, Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Adams), who are caught up in a scam by Federal Agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper).
If they assist in securing four additional arrests, they can get away with their transgressions. There is a problem with Irving and Sydney's relationship: Irving is still married to Rosalyn (Lawrence), and she's so... emotionally inconsistent, let's say that if he tries to leave her, she's going to keep him from his adopted son.
1. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
As the film that earned Lawrence the Oscar for Best Actress (as well as a Golden Globe and SAG Award), Silver Linings Playbook had to be at the top of our list. It is her best effort in her filmography, allowing her to shine comedically, dramatically, and - during an unexpectedly gripping dance number - even physically.
There is a volatile romantic relationship between widow Tiffany Maxwell (Lawrence) and divorcee Pat Solitano, Jr. (Bradley Cooper), who has just completed eight months in a mental health facility for treatment of bipolar disorder. Initially, Pat wants to reconcile with his ex-wife, Nikki, but a restraining order prevents him from doing so. Tiffany makes a deal with Pat: She will deliver a letter to Nikki if he agrees to be her dance partner.
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