HOLLYWOOD: Jennifer Lawrence became one of the youngest best actress Oscar winners ever Sunday for "Silver Linings Playbook" -- using her "Hunger Games" drive to secure Hollywood's highest honor.
"You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell. This is nuts!" Lawrence said about the standing ovation she received after she tripped on her way up onto the stage in a voluminous Dior Couture gown.
The 22-year-old former cheerleader has now added Academy Award prestige to the fortune undoubtedly made playing Katniss Everdeen in the blockbuster teen movie franchise.
And she is not shy of speaking her mind about Tinseltown, telling a recent interviewer: "It's almost like I subconsciously don't want to work anymore, so I'm trying to ruin my career."
"I'm so aware of all the bullshit that surrounds Hollywood, and how everyone gets on this high horse and thinks that they're curing cancer and it makes me so uncomfortable every time I see it," she said.
"So I go in the exact opposite direction and end up saying something like 'I'm pregnant!' when I'm in two franchises."
Lawrence, who plays a messed-up 20-something who falls for Bradley Cooper's recovering mental patient character in "Silver Linings Playbook," struck Oscars gold on her second attempt, after being nominated in 2011 for "Winter's Bone." The only younger best actress nominees were 12-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes in 2002's "Whale Rider" and Quvenzhane Wallis, who was in the running this year for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," at the age of nine.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, the young Lawrence was keen on cheerleading, field hockey, softball, and modeling -- "none of which she held a passion for," according to her IMDb movie industry website biography. Her acting career started at the age of 14 when she spent the summer in New York City, wowing producers with cold-read auditions and earning a number of small commercial and film roles. One of her first jobs was a promo video for MTV reality series "My Super Sweet 16," which she alluded to when she won best actress at the Screen Actors Guild awards. Shortly after her 2004 New York debut, her family -- she has two older brothers -- moved to Los Angeles so she could pursue her career. She left school two years early in order to focus on acting. After TV roles her first big-screen credits came in 2008, including "Garden Party" and "The Poker House," but playing Ree in 2010 drama "Winter's Bone" was her first big break, and drew major critical acclaim. Shortly afterwards she secured a role in "X-Men: First Class", a summer hit in 2011, followed by being cast as the central character in "The Hunger Games," based on the best-selling book series.
Her role as Katniss, winning a nightmarish survival-of-the-fittest contest in a dystopian future world, made her a teenage superstar. The second film in the series, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," is due out this year.
She was named as one of industry daily Variety's Top Ten Actors to watch in 2010, and one of People magazine's Most Beautiful People in 2011. The best actress Oscar is obviously a more substantial accolade, and no doubt one that will help her already stellar career. "There are actresses who build themselves, and then there are actresses who are built by others. I want to build myself," she once said.
Of her future, she added: "I'd like to direct at some point. But I don't know because 10 years ago I would have never imagined that I'd be here. So in 10 years from now, I might be running a rodeo."
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