Jennifer Lawrence has had one hell of a year. In the first few months of 2013 she home the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, and then she spent the summer in production on Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, a film that is expected to be one of the biggest superhero movies ever. Now in the fall she has hit it big with not only the blockbuster release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - in which she plays the lead role - but also David O. Russell's American Hustle, which is once again putting the young actress back in Oscar talks. As though things weren't going well enough, she now has another award to place on her mantle.
The Associated Press has announced that Jennifer Lawrence was won the award for AP Entertainer of the Year. In a survey of the organization's newspaper and broadcast members as well as subscribers, the actress was able to beat out Miley Cyrus by a single vote. Answering the question, "Who had the most influence on entertainment and culture in 2013?" 15 of the 70 ballots submitted voted for Lawrence, while 14 went to the former Disney pop princess. The video-on-demand service Netflix wound up taking third place with 13 votes.
Lawrence's Academy Award win was her first, but not her first nomination. She first exploded on to the scene in 2010 with a gripping performance in the Sundance breakout Winter's Bone, which led her to be entered among Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Williams and Natalie Portman in the 2011 category for Best Actress (Portman wound up winning for her performance in Black Swan). Lawrence's performance in Silver Linings Playbook was widely praised and her Oscar win was largely seen as deserved by critics and viewers, but she made headlines when she tripped on her way up to the stage to receive her award and then played it off perfectly while talking to the press afterward.
Her work on X-Men: Future Past will have more of an impact on 2014 than it has had on 2013, but is what the actress spent a good chunk of the summer doing. Just as she did in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class in 2011, Lawrence once again got covered from head to toe in blue body paint to star as the shape-shifting Mystique. Singer Tweeted an image of her in costume on set back in late May:
On the big screen, Lawrence's biggest time in the spotlight this year has easily been her starring performance in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The sequel was lauded with praise by critics (including myself) and the movie has been a smash at the box office, earning $765 million at the global box office so far.
Then there's American Hustle. While our own Sean O'Connell wasn't a fan, most critics have only had positive things to say about Lawrence's performance. In the dramedy she stars as Rosalyn Rosenfeld, the all-but-divorced wife of con-man Irving Rosenfeld. played by Christian Bale.
Lawrence's long-lasting moment in the sun is only expected to get longer through next year. In addition to X-Men: Days of Future Past, the actress also has the Susanne Bier-directed indie drama Serena (which once again teams her with co-star Bradley Cooper) as well as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't be too surprised if next year at this time we hear that she's taken home the AP Entertainer of the Year for 2014.
