10 Most Memorable Jennifer Lawrence Movies and Performances

Netflix December 24. Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth.

Prepare yourself for Jennifer Lawrence's latest movies by looking back at this list that ranks her most memorable characters.

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10. Sam, 'Like Crazy' (2011)

A British college student falls for an American student, only to be separated from him when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa.

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9. Agnes, 'The Poker House' (2008)

Lawrence's first lead role, shot when she was 17, was this horrific of writer/director Lori Petty's own childhood marked by poverty and sexual abuse. In what will become a familiar character type for Lawrence, she plays a rural teen forced to grow up way too fast and care for her younger siblings. The rookie star is astonishingly natural and self-assured, especially given how dark the material gets.

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8. Aurora Lane, 'engers' (2016)

Your appreciation for this "Titanic"-in-space romance depends on whether you read it as a tragic love story and not a Stockholm Syndrome saga of a woman who falls for the desperate stalker who ruined her life. Lawrence is impeccable, as usual; she has to be in order to sell the movie's hard-to-swallow premise. She and Chris Pratt are certainly adorable. Still, this extravagant flop is likely to be ed (if at all) as a footnote in both stars' careers.

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7. Mystique, the 'X-Men' Prequels (2011 - Present)

As scaly-skinned shapeshifter Raven Darkhölme, Lawrence has little to do but stand around looking blue -- literally. She's arguably integral to the plot only in the second film ("X-Men: Days of Future Past"). True to her name, Lawrence's Mystique is still something of a mystery, even after three movies.

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6. Joy Mangano, 'Joy' (2015)

Lawrence's third collaboration with director David O. Russell is the pair's least successful. It's a fanciful, tortured of inventor and home-shopping mogul Mangano's rags-to-riches rise. It's all Lawrence's show, and thank goodness she's compelling enough to carry this surprisingly heavy (and uneven) film on her shoulders.

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5. Tiffany Maxwell, 'Silver Linings Playbook' (2012)

At 21, Lawrence should have been way too young to co-star in Russell's nervous-energy romance opposite a damaged Bradley Cooper. But she's mature beyond her years, giving as good as she gets. Oh, also, she dances up a storm. It's a delightful and charming turn, one that renders Cooper's character helpless to resist. The Academy couldn't resist, either -- they gave her a Best Actress trophy.

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4. Mother, 'mother!' (2017)

A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

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3. Rosalyn Rosenfeld, 'American Hustle' (2013)

In her second movie with Russell and Cooper, Lawrence is a comic force of nature. In a movie overstuffed with colorful characters, she still manages to steal scenes as the overripe, outer-borough, grudge-nursing wife of Christian Bale's comb-over con man. Her character is a justifiably angry loose cannon, and whenever she's on screen, the film threatens to go off the rails. In a good, exciting, unpredictable way.

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2. Ree Dolly, 'Winter's Bone' (2010)

Lawrence's breakthrough role in this indie drama saw her playing an Ozark teen whose meth-dealing dad goes missing, leaving her to act the responsible adult. Soon, she's skinning squirrels and trying to steer clear of both the law and the meth underworld in her struggle to save the family home and put food on the table for her two younger siblings. Like "The Poker House," this is practically a gothic horror film, and Lawrence carries it off with maturity, charisma, and authenticity.

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1. Katniss Everdeen, 'The Hunger Games' series (2012 - 2015)

It's impossible now to imagine anyone else as the Girl on Fire. The rebellious gladiator of Suzanne Collins' futuristic novels may be the most complex action heroine in movies -- warrior, big sister, survivalist, media icon, revolutionary figurehead, traumatized executioner, and one leg of a teen love triangle.

Displaying all these facets, Lawrence's Katniss is compelling to watch in triumph but maybe even more compelling in failure. After all, she's still just a kid being asked to bear impossible burdens, and letting that anguished, fumbling humanity shine through is a Lawrence specially, too.