22 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Jennifer Lawrence

Wikimedia / Kurt Kulac

We all love Jennifer Lawrence (or maybe just want to be her), but you might be surprised to find out that honestly, she’s not much different from a lot of us. After all, she’s known for being the clumsy, pizza-loving best friend type for a reason. We found 22 facts about our favorite actress that’ll make you love her even more — if that’s even possible.

1. She didn’t always want to be an actress.

In fact, she originally wanted to be a doctor.

2. She never had formal acting training.

She didn’t even do the theatre program in high school.

3. She was a tomboy when she was growing up, too.

She wasn’t allowed to play with other girls in preschool because she was “too rough.”

4. She was discovered by complete accident at age 14.

She was in New York on spring break with her family when a stranger asked to take her picture and took her mom’s phone number. The very next day he called her to ask for a screen test.

5. Her mother said she couldn’t pursue acting until she finished school.

With that incentive, J. Law finished high school in only two years — with a 3.9 GPA.

6. She auditioned for Twilight.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), she was turned down in favor of Kristen Stewart.

7. She almost turned down her role in The Hunger Games.

After seeing how Twilight affected Kristen Stewart, she turned down the offer to play Katniss Everdeen. She ended up changing her mind accepting the role three days later.

8. She “swears like a sailor.”

There was swear jar on the set on The Hunger Games, and she attributed to at least half of the money inside.

9. Lawrence killed and skinned a squirrel for one of her roles.

This was in the movie Winter’s Bone, which earned Lawrence an Academy Award nomination.

10. She loves riding horses.

In fact, her first love was a pony named Muffin who lived on her horse farm in Kentucky.

11. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards for the role of Best Actress.

And she’s the youngest person to ever do that.

12. She’s left-handed.

The more you know, am I right?

13. A tabloid planned on running a story that she was having an affair with a co-star, and she got to choose which one it was with.

She picked Bradley Cooper over Samuel Claflin.

14. Before she made it big, she was in an ad for MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen.

In it, she made fun of the teens who are actually on the show.

15. It took eight hours to apply her makeup for X-Men: First Class.

Her entire body had to be painted blue for her role as Mystique.

YouTube / MovieclipsPROMO

16. And while they applied the makeup, she had to stand or sit on a bicycle.

Can you imagine how uncomfortable that would be after a while?

17. Her on-set nickname during The Hunger Games set was “Katpiss Neverclean.”

Maybe this has something to do with her claim that she never washes her hands after she pees, but probably more to do with the fact that she’d show up to work with the same makeup from the day before.

18. She had a knack for getting hurt while filming The Hunger Games.

She injured herself during the first film by running into a wall and went deaf in one ear for an entire week while filming the second.

19. She is a real life “Jenny from the Block.”

Apparently she’ll actually respond if you call her that, too.

20. She almost didn’t get the part in Winter’s Bone because she was “too pretty.”

In response, she hopped onto a red-eye to New York, walked through the snow for 13 blocks, and returned to audition without washing her hair for a week. She landed the role.

YouTube / RoadsideFlix

21. She ruined several dresses on the set of American Hustle while eating Doritos.

She stained so many that the wardrobe department had to get her multiples of each outfit so she’d always have a clean one to ear.

22. She gave her Oscar to her parents to keep in their house in Kentucky.

She felt “too weird” having it at her own house. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Callie is a writer, editor, and publisher at Thought Catalog. Her debut book, ‘The Words We Left Behind,’ was released in January 2024.

Keep up with Callie on Instagram, Twitter and calliebyrnes.com

More From Thought Catalog