Jennifer Lawrence Biography: From Louisville to Oscar Winner and Beauty Founder

October 28, 2026

Daniel Reed

Jennifer Lawrence biography in brief: Jennifer Lawrence is an American actress and producer born on 15 August 1990 in Louisville, Kentucky, who rose from the indie drama Winter’s Bone to Oscar-winning stardom as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook and, in October 2026, launched her own haircare brand, Mes.

Quick facts

Full name: Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (now Jennifer Lawrence Maroney)
Born: 15 August 1990, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Nationality: American
Occupation: Actress, producer
Known for: Winter’s Bone, The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Don’t Look Up, Die My Love
Spouse: Cooke Maroney (married 2019)
Children: Two sons
Production company: Excellent Cadaver (founded 2018)

Early life

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born on 15 August 1990 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Gary Lawrence, a construction company owner, and Karen Lawrence (née Koch), a summer-camp manager (Wikipedia). She grew up with two older brothers, Ben and Blaine, on a horse farm outside Louisville, attended Kammerer Middle School, and played softball, field hockey and basketball. A self-described hyper, anxious child, she found confidence performing on stage in church plays and school musicals.

At 14, on a family trip to New York City, Lawrence was spotted by a talent scout and began auditioning for agents. Her mother briefly moved the family to New York so she could read for roles, and Lawrence later moved to Los Angeles. She dropped out of school at 14, describing herself as self-educated. Her first substantial television role was as Lauren Pearson on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009), after guest spots on Monk, Medium and Cold Case.

Career

Lawrence made her film debut in Garden Party (2008) and won the Marcello Mastroianni Award at Venice for The Burning Plain (2008). Her breakthrough came as Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old searching for her missing father in the Ozarks, in Debra Granik’s independent drama Winter’s Bone (2010). She learned to skin squirrels, chop wood and fight for the role, and earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress at age 20.

Blockbuster fame followed on two fronts. She played the shapeshifting mutant Mystique in X-Men: First Class (2011) and its sequels through Dark Phoenix (2019), and took the career-defining role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012). The first film grossed more than $690 million worldwide and made her the highest-grossing action heroine of all time. She returned for Catching Fire (2013) and the two Mockingjay films (2014–2015).

Her collaboration with director David O. Russell brought her greatest awards success. As troubled young widow Tiffany Maxwell in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), opposite Bradley Cooper, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress at age 22 — the second-youngest winner in the category — along with a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award. She won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for her supporting role in American Hustle (2013) and a Golden Globe for playing businesswoman Joy Mangano in Joy (2015), earning Oscar nominations for both films, for a total of four nominations.

Forbes named Lawrence the world’s highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016, with estimated pre-tax earnings of $52 million and $46 million respectively. She starred in the sci-fi romance Passengers (2016) opposite Chris Pratt, the psychological horror Mother! (2017) and the spy thriller Red Sparrow (2018), then took a step back from big-budget work. She founded the production company Excellent Cadaver in 2018 with producing partner Justine Ciarrocchi, and returned with the Netflix satire Don’t Look Up (2021) opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

Since then Lawrence has mixed acting with producing through Excellent Cadaver: the drama Causeway (2022), the comedy No Hard Feelings (2023), the documentary Bread and Roses (2023) about Afghan women under Taliban rule, and the Lynne Ramsay psychological drama Die My Love (2025), in which she plays Grace opposite Robert Pattinson. Die My Love premiered in competition at Cannes in May 2025, and her performance was widely praised as a return to form. In 2025 she also became the youngest recipient of the Donostia Award at San Sebastián.

October 2026 brought a new chapter. In a The Cut cover interview published on 27 October 2026, Lawrence spoke candidly about cosmetic procedures and motherhood, saying she wants to be a “sexy mom” at school drop-off — a woman who looks “like a woman that has her shit together even when I’ve just woken up and don’t have my shit together” (Parade; Page Six). Reports agree she plans a facelift someday but has not had one; outlets differ on the exact post-pregnancy breast procedure she confirmed, with Page Six and People describing a breast lift and Parade and others describing a breast augmentation. The same day she launched Mes, a haircare brand co-founded with biotech scientist Jasmina Aganovic, with three debut products priced from $34 to $52 (Glossy).

Major achievements

Academy Awards: 1 win from 4 nominations — Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook; nominations also for Winter’s Bone, American Hustle and Joy.
Golden Globes: 3 wins, for Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Joy.
BAFTA: Best Supporting Actress for American Hustle.
Forbes: World’s highest-paid actress in 2015 ($52 million) and 2016 ($46 million).
Box office: Her films have grossed more than $6 billion worldwide; Katniss Everdeen made her the highest-grossing action heroine of all time.
Donostia Award (2025): Youngest recipient in the San Sebastián festival award’s history.

Personal life

Lawrence dated X-Men co-star Nicholas Hoult from 2010 to around 2014, and filmmaker Darren Aronofsky from 2016 to 2017. In 2018 she began a relationship with art gallery director Cooke Maroney, introduced by actress Laura Simpson. They became engaged in February 2019 and married on 19 October 2019 at the Belcourt of Newport mansion in Rhode Island, with around 150 guests. She took the name Jennifer Lawrence Maroney.

The couple have two sons: Cy, born in February 2022 and named after the painter Cy Twombly, and a second son born in early 2025, whose name has not been publicly revealed. Lawrence keeps both children out of the public eye. In October 2026 she described her approach to motherhood frankly in The Cut, saying that after her first child “everything bounced back, pretty much”, but after her second, “nothing bounced back” (Parade).

Lawrence founded the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation in 2015, supporting the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Special Olympics, and donated $2 million in 2016 to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville for a cardiac intensive care unit. She is a board member of the anti-corruption organisation RepresentUs and has campaigned for women’s reproductive rights and pay equality, writing a 2015 essay on Hollywood’s gender pay gap after discovering she was paid less than her male co-stars on American Hustle.

Net worth snapshot

Jennifer Lawrence’s net worth is estimated at $160–$180 million as of 2026, with Celebrity Net Worth’s current figure at $180 million; no Forbes, Bloomberg or Hurun net-worth figure exists, and no audited fortune has been published. The estimate rests on her blockbuster salaries, her long-running Dior partnership and her property portfolio. Read the full breakdown in Jennifer Lawrence’s net worth.

Frequently asked questions

How old is Jennifer Lawrence?

Jennifer Lawrence was born on 15 August 1990 in Louisville, Kentucky. She is 36 years old as of October 2026.

How many Oscars has Jennifer Lawrence won?

Jennifer Lawrence has won one Academy Award: Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook in 2013, at age 22, making her the second-youngest winner in the category. She has been nominated four times in total.

What is Mes, Jennifer Lawrence’s new brand?

Mes is Jennifer Lawrence’s haircare brand, launched on 27 October 2026 with biotech scientist Jasmina Aganovic. It debuted with three products: a repair mask for $52, a restyling serum for $44 and a volumizing mist for $34.

Who is Jennifer Lawrence married to?

Jennifer Lawrence has been married to art gallery director Cooke Maroney since 19 October 2019. The couple have two sons, born in 2022 and early 2025.

What is Jennifer Lawrence’s latest film?

Her latest released film is Die My Love (2025), a Lynne Ramsay psychological drama in which she plays Grace opposite Robert Pattinson. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025.