Why Jennifer Lawrence deserves Hunger Games best actress award

The Hunger Games fans were showing solidarity with their hero Katniss Everdeen by voting for Jennifer Lawrence to win Best Actress at the Jameson Empire Awards.

Though Lawrence has been winning accolades for her role in Silver Linings Playbook more recently, Empire readers and Hunger Games fans wanted her work in the first of the science fiction trilogy to be recognized.

She beat competition from the usual suspects Naomi Watts, Judi Dench and Anne Hathaway, standing tall amongst her peers for a genre movie that has so often been ignored when it comes to award ceremonies.

Jennifer could not be present to collect her award, avoiding any further slips on steps to stage mishaps, but she had this message for the fans:

“Hi, Empire Awards. I’m really sorry I can’t be there with you this evening but I am honoured to have won the Jameson Empire Best Actress Award for The Hunger Games and I would like to thank the Empire readers for voting for me. I’ve loved bringing Katniss Everdeen to life and this award in particular means a lot to me as it comes from the fans that have made The Hunger Games such a success. Thanks once again to everyone at Empire and all their readers.”

She might now be an Oscar winner for her role as Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook but Jennifer Lawrence won the hearts of many with her role as the feisty, determined heroine of The Hunger Games.

The demanding role saw Lawrence deliver a brave and bold performance, progressing from quiet desperation to revolutionary icon. It is a role she has returned to with renewed fervour in the sequels, the first of which wrapping in December 2012 ahead of the November 2013 release.

Jennifer Lawrence first attracted attention with her beautiful and mesmerising turn in indie Winter’s Bone but The Hunger Games launched her deservedly into mega-stardom, paving the way for her Oscar success.

The Hunger Games heroine Katniss was a gift of a role for the young Hollywood beauty, Lawrence ably flexing her performance muscles as the terrified but calm, clever and cunning contestant.

Her eyes are piercing and her delivery can be withering. She is a modern strong female and a much more inspirational role model for young women than any number of Twilight or Harry Potter films could provide.

Empire had this to say of the star and her character: “Lawrence is perfect as Katniss. There’s very little softness about her, more a melancholy determination that good must be done even if that requires bad things.”

Expect Katniss and Jennifer Lawrence to continue to rise onto bigger and better things. The odds are ever in their favour and there really is no stopping them.

Are you excited for Catching Fire or do you wish J-Law would do something else or just disappear?