Jennifer Lawrence Biography: Age, Real Name, Career, Movies, Family & Latest News

Who Is Jennifer Lawrence? Biography, Age, Real Name, Career, Movies, Family & Latest News

Jennifer Lawrence is an American actress and producer who became a movie star in her early twenties with The Hunger Games and then won an Academy Award for Silver Linings Playbook at 22. She spent the following years balancing blockbusters with prestige dramas, stepped back from the spotlight after becoming a mother, and returned with her most acclaimed work in years in Die My Love. This week she confirmed what fans had suspected for nearly a year: she is back as Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming prequel The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

This biography covers her name and background, how she was discovered, the roles that defined each stage of her career, her awards, her family life, and the latest confirmed news as of October 30, 2026.

What Is Jennifer Lawrence’s Real Name?

Her birth name is Jennifer Shrader Lawrence, and she has worked under Jennifer Lawrence throughout her career. Since marrying Cooke Maroney in 2019 she has also been referred to as Jennifer Lawrence Maroney in some records, though she is still billed professionally under her maiden name.

How Old Is Jennifer Lawrence?

She was born on August 15, 1990, which makes her 36 years old as of this article. Articles written in the first half of 2026 list her as 35, so check the date on any profile you read.

Where Is Jennifer Lawrence From?

Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in the Louisville area. She is American. Her Kentucky background has been a recurring theme in interviews and in her screen persona, and she has spoken about growing up around horses and farm life.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Early Life and Family

Her parents are Gary Lawrence, who worked in construction, and Karen, who ran a children’s camp. She grew up with two older brothers, Ben and Blaine. She was an athletic, energetic child who enjoyed horseback riding and sports, and she took part in local church and school productions, where she discovered she liked performing.

Her acting career began almost by accident. At age 14, she was on a family vacation in New York City when a talent scout noticed her. That led to modeling and commercial work, then to acting auditions, and the family decided to let her pursue it. She left Kentucky and moved to New York to work, and she completed her schooling on an accelerated schedule so she could focus on acting.

How Did Jennifer Lawrence Start Her Career?

Her first professional work came in television commercials and music videos, followed by guest roles. From 2007 to 2009 she appeared as Lauren Pearson, the teenage daughter on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, which gave her steady work in front of a camera while she was still a teenager.

On film, she made early appearances in Garden Party (2008) and The Burning Plain (2008), a drama with Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her performance in The Burning Plain earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young actor at the Venice Film Festival, an early sign that critics saw something unusual in her work.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Breakthrough: Winter’s Bone

The film that changed her career was Winter’s Bone (2010), directed by Debra Granik. Lawrence played Ree Dolly, a teenager in the Missouri Ozarks who has to find her missing father or lose the family home. It was a spare, tough performance that carried a small independent film into awards season, and it earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress at age 20.

She followed it with a high-profile studio part in X-Men: First Class (2011), where she played the young Raven, who becomes Mystique, and she reprised the character across several sequels in the franchise.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen

In 2012, Lawrence starred in The Hunger Games, adapted from Suzanne Collins’s novel, as Katniss Everdeen, a teenager from District 12 who volunteers in her sister’s place for a televised fight to the death. The film was a major box office success, and the series continued with Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay, Part 1 (2014) and Mockingjay, Part 2 (2015). Her co-stars included Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy and Donald Sutherland as President Snow.

The franchise made her one of the most recognizable young stars in the world, and it did so while she was also making films with more demanding directors.

The Oscar Years: Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle

Her second Oscar-season run came with Silver Linings Playbook (2012), directed by David O. Russell. She played Tiffany, a young widow who becomes close with Bradley Cooper’s character, and the performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 2013 ceremony, when she was 22. She won over a field that included Emmanuelle Riva, who was nominated for Amour on the day of her 85th birthday. Her stumble on the stairs on the way to the stage became one of the most replayed moments of that year’s show.

She reunited with Russell on American Hustle (2013), playing Rosalyn Rosenfeld, the volatile wife of a con artist. The role won her a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for supporting actress, and a third Oscar nomination. In Joy (2015), again with Russell, she played inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano. She won the Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy, and received a fourth Oscar nomination. Between 2011 and 2016, then, she earned four Oscar nominations and one win, a pace that put her among the most decorated actors of her generation.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Movies and TV Shows After Joy

The years after Joy mixed big-budget bets with riskier choices. She starred opposite Chris Pratt in the science fiction romance Passengers (2016), and in mother! (2017), the divisive horror film by Darren Aronofsky, which polarized audiences and critics. In Red Sparrow (2018), she played a Russian ballerina turned spy, and she returned as Mystique for Dark Phoenix (2019).

After a break from acting, she came back with Don’t Look Up (2021), Adam McKay’s apocalyptic satire, in which she played an astronomer who discovers a comet headed for Earth. She then starred in the A24 drama Causeway (2022), playing a soldier returning from Afghanistan, a project she also co-produced. In 2023 she led the R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a musical or comedy.

Die My Love

Her most discussed recent film is Die My Love (2025), directed by Lynne Ramsay and co-starring Robert Pattinson. Based on a novel by Ariana Harwicz, it follows Grace, a new mother whose postpartum depression and isolation unravel her relationship and her sense of self. Lawrence co-produced the film, and she has said that Martin Scorsese was the one who called her and suggested she take the project on. She filmed it while pregnant with her second child, and she has said she found it easy to understand the character’s isolation because of her own experience as a new mother.

The performance earned a nomination for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture drama at the 2026 Golden Globes, where Jessie Buckley won for Hamnet. She was also nominated for outstanding lead performance at the Gotham Awards in December 2025. The film received generally positive reviews.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Production Company and Philanthropy

Lawrence is increasingly a producer as well as a performer. She co-founded the production company Excellent Cadaver, which backed projects including Causeway, No Hard Feelings and Die My Love. In 2015 she founded the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation, which supports organizations focused on arts, youth and community programs, and she has also been active on civic issues, including voting rights and campaigns around election access.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Awards and Achievements

Her awards record includes an Academy Award for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook, along with three further Oscar nominations for Winter’s Bone, American Hustle and Joy. She has won two Golden Globe Awards, for American Hustle and Joy, and a BAFTA Award for American Hustle. She won the Venice Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award early in her career. Her more recent nominations include the 2026 Golden Globes and the 2025 Gotham Awards for Die My Love.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Husband and Children

Lawrence met art gallery director Cooke Maroney through a mutual friend in 2018. They married in October 2019 at the Belcourt of Newport mansion in Rhode Island. Their first child, a son named Cy, was born in February 2022, and they welcomed a second son in early 2025. The second child’s name has not been widely published, so it is not included here.

She has described her husband as organized and grounding, in contrast to her own more chaotic approach to scheduling, and she has said that motherhood has changed how she approaches her work, including the time of day she reads scripts. The family keeps a relatively low public profile. Her first Instagram account debut came this year, and it came with a clear warning to people who might be harsh toward her online.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Current and Upcoming Projects

The film at the center of the news right now is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, directed by Francis Lawrence, who also directed the later films in the original series. It is a prequel set 24 years before the first story and follows a teenage Haymitch Abernathy, played by Joseph Zada, on the morning of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. Woody Harrelson appears as the older Haymitch, and Ralph Fiennes plays President Snow. It is scheduled for release in theaters on November 20, 2026.

She has also been announced for The Flood, a science fiction film from director Zach Cregger, who is known for the horror films Barbarian and Weapons. It is slated for August 2028, so details are still limited.

Jennifer Lawrence’s Latest News

On October 28, 2026, in an interview on the podcast Call Her Daddy, Lawrence officially confirmed that she and Josh Hutcherson are returning as Katniss and Peeta in Sunrise on the Reaping. Reports of their involvement had circulated since December 2025, and she had acknowledged the rumors in an earlier podcast appearance, but this was the first time she confirmed it directly. She described the experience of returning as emotional and said it was meaningful that the same crew was working on the film. How much screen time Katniss and Peeta get has not been confirmed, and the studio has kept the details of their appearance quiet.

The news was announced less than a month before the film’s release, and early fan reactions have been strongly positive.

Frequently Asked Questions About Jennifer Lawrence

What is Jennifer Lawrence’s real name?
Her birth name is Jennifer Shrader Lawrence.

How old is Jennifer Lawrence?
She is 36. She was born on August 15, 1990.

Where is Jennifer Lawrence from?
She was born in Louisville, Kentucky.

What is Jennifer Lawrence best known for?
She is best known for playing Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games films and for winning the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook.

Has Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar?
Yes. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook, at age 22.

Is Jennifer Lawrence in the new Hunger Games movie?
Yes. She confirmed on October 28, 2026 that she is reprising Katniss in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, opening November 20, 2026.

Who is Jennifer Lawrence’s husband?
She is married to art gallery director Cooke Maroney. They wed in October 2019.

Does Jennifer Lawrence have children?
Yes. She and Maroney have two sons, Cy, born in February 2022, and a second son, born in early 2025.

What was Jennifer Lawrence’s latest movie?
Die My Love (2025), directed by Lynne Ramsay.

What is Jennifer Lawrence doing next?
She appears in Sunrise on the Reaping in November 2026, and she is attached to Zach Cregger’s The Flood, slated for August 2028.