To say 22 year-old Jennifer Lawrence is doing something right would be an understatement. In the space of less than three years she has gained a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy Award for her role in ‘Winters Bone’ (2010), has starred as Mystique in ‘X-Men First Class’ (2011) with James McAvoy, become a teen cult phenomenon as Katniss Everdeen in ‘The Hunger Games’(2012) and most recently won an Oscar for best actress in ‘The Silver Linings Playbook’ (2013).
Certainly there is something quite unique about Lawrence, she brings an authenticity and vulnerability to each role she plays whether it be a troubled teenager with genetic mutation or a young widower. Yet more than this what has stood out to me, is that she is so dang likeable.
There are many celebrities you envy, many you hate and many you criticise well, just because you can. But Lawrence is different. She presents herself with a grace and elegance far beyond her years, yet speaks like a normal person. And when I say normal, I mean that she happily admits that she would rather eat pizza in front of the TV wearing sweat pants than strutting on the red carpet. When she dresses, she has a general modesty and class not found in her peers, yet outshining all of them in the likes of her gorgeous Dior Coutour dress at the Oscars. It seems she said it best when she stated “I’m excited to be seen as sexy. But not slutty”.
Yet even beyond all this it is the little things that make Lawrence so endearing. Her trip up the stairs as she accepted her Oscar and the fact she brought her parents as her date to the Golden Globes after breaking up with boyfriend Nicholas Holt. Lawrence was born and bred in Kentucky, only going to New York City at 14, and it shows.
Her resume extends prior to 2010, all beginning with casting agents declaring “it was the best cold read by a 14- year-old they had ever heard” in 2005. She took part in a risky photo shoot for Esquire magazine prior to landing her role on ‘X-Men First Class’, her explanation being that she needed to shake up her career, yet she readily admits to hate dieting. Whether you love or loathe the protective yet troubled teenagers she plays, you have to admit, Lawrence has guts.
What excites me is that girls finally have a good, solid role model to look up to. All over the world children dream of being Katniss Everdeen (slightly disturbing, but noble nonetheless). They can see that sexy is not stick thin, that talent comes with integrity and class. That it’s ok to be awkward, and clumsy and normal. So on behalf of the young girls, and the awkward teens and the self-conscious twenty somethings of the world, I want to say thank you to Jennifer Lawrence. For reminding us that it is ok to be strong, courageous women who love to eat pizza.
“I’d rather look a little chubby on camera and look like a person in real life, than look great on screen and look like a scarecrow in real life.” – Jennifer Lawrence