Happy Birthday Jennifer Lawrence

Book Addicts,

We have to say Happy Birthday to Jennifer Lawrence because today is her birthday! We love her. She's a great actress and, though we do not know her, we get the feeling that she awesome.

And that's why we have a special guest in our site today. Spencer Blohm, fan of the Hunger Games and J. Lawrence, wrote a wonderful guest post about Jennifer Lawrence for our blog. 

And you know, Book Addicts, we are dying to see this girl as Katniss Everdeen on the big screen. Why? I think you may need to watch Jennifer telling you why:

It’s Jennifer Lawrence’s birthday, and though the star is only just turning 23, she has already become the highest grossing action heroine ever due to roles in Winter’s Bone (2010), X-Men (2011), and of course, The Hunger Games (2012). She’s also the youngest actress ever to be nominated for two Best Actress Academy Awards. On screen, Jennifer is a spirited tough girl -she has skinned squirrels, is adept at surviving in the most inhumane conditions, and has a stubborn personality that refuses to succumb to villains. Off-screen, Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most lovable celebrities we’ve seen in a long time. Reminiscent of previous Girl Next Door celebs like Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence is quick to crack jokes, drop one liners, and when she falls claiming an Oscar (as one of the youngest actresses to be awarded one!) in her splendidly large ball gown she shies away from embarrassment in order to proclaim to reporters, “What do you mean what happened? Look at my dress!” 

Although she claims her and Katniss Everdeen aren’t alike, she seems to have a knack for the role, and has put significant effort into transforming herself into the ideal Katniss. Jennifer told The Sun, “I never play characters that are like me because I’m a boring person. I wouldn’t want to see me in a movie.” Well, it’s easy to disagree with her there. For her role in The Hunger Games Lawrence worked out twice a day and learned how to properly shoot a bow and arrow. At one point, after she had just returned from training, Jennifer heard men in her house. She threw the quiver on her back and loaded her bow and arrow, ready to defend her home just as Katniss would. Luckily, the trespassers were only workers, but the instinct to fight instead of call for help is very, well, Katniss of her. 

And the similarities don’t stop there. In The Hunger Games novels, we often see Katniss Everdeen stuffing her face with food. While Katniss is no glutton -we can remember her disgusted response to the pills citizens of the Capitol take in order to allow room for more eating- she does enjoy a variety of delicious feasts. Lawrence is the same: she told Flare magazine, “I’m miserable when I’m dieting... 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.” To keep healthy, Katniss/Jennifer stick to a balanced diet and fitness regime. 

We know Lawrence has a tendency to play wilderness girls. She once said while promoting The Hunger Games “I don’t know what it is with me and maternal wilderness girls, I just love ‘em.” But what many don’t know is Lawrence also auditioned for another starring role based off another wildly popular fantasy series -yup, that’s right, Lawrence lost out to Kristen Stewart for the role of Bella Swan in the Twilight series. It’s hard to say who would have played the part better. Kristen Stewart has the fragile side of Bella down pat, and Jennifer would have been more likely to portray a tougher, less breakable Miss Swan. Other than that, it’s complete opinion regarding who would have really been better for the role. 

Surprisingly, Jennifer was glad she didn’t get the role when she saw the overnight fame that came to Kristen Stewart and co-stars like Robert Pattinson. For such a great actress it seems as if fame was always unavoidable, but for a while Jennifer did her best to avoid the glaring lights of the paparazzi. She looked at Kristen Stewart and said to Glamour, “I’d never want to be that famous.” She was so concerned about possible fame that she took days to accept the role of Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games. The book series by Suzanne Collins was already huge, there was no doubt that the films, like Harry Potter and Twilight, would be just as popular if not more so, and like the stars of those films Lawrence likely worried that she would be typecast in her role as Katniss. In the end, Lawrence took the job, wisely concluding, “When you get a promotion at your job, you don’t go ‘That was too fast. Can I stay in the mailroom a while longer?’ You take it.” 

Mostly due to Lawrence’s acting skill, she was able to avoid being typecast as an action heroine and quickly appeared in films like Silver Linings Playbook (2012) alongside Bradley Cooper for which she won a slew of awards including her Oscar. But she won’t be giving up her heroine roots either, Lawrence will reprise her role for the upcoming Hunger Games films, the final one scheduled to release in 2015. She’ll also be starring in future book to film adaptations, such as The Rules of Inheritance by Claire Bidwell Smith. However, the film world isn’t the only industry to embrace Jennifer. During her promotional tour for The Hunger Games she consistently appeared at the top of the best-dressed lists and emerged as quite the fashionista, and the fashion industry quickly took notice. She recently became the face of Christian Dior (following in the footsteps of fellow Oscar winners Marion Cotillard, Natalie Portman, and Charlize Theron) and can currently be seen on the much anticipated cover of the September issue of Vogue. Jennifer Lawrence is a talented young actress, and we can only hope her 23rd year is as promising and filled with great roles as her 22nd was! 

About the Author

Spencer Blohm is a freelance entertainment and film blogger for DirectTVComparison.com. In his free time he enjoys putting together his own Hunger Games, which actually just consists of him shooting a Nerf gun at his friends while they unsuspectingly watch television. He lives and works in Chicago with his cat Rupert, who does not wish to participate in these games.