Jennifer Lawrence has won the Oscar as Best Actress of 2012 for her portrayal as a young widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.”
The 22-year-old actress won in her second nomination; her first came two years ago for “Winter’s Bone.” She is the youngest person to receive two lead-acting nominations, and is one year older than the youngest Best Actress winner, Marlee Matlin (“Children of a Lesser God”).
Lawrence faced formidable competition in her category from Jessica Chastain for “Zero Dark Thirty,” Emmanuelle Riva for “Amour” and Naomi Watts for “The Impossible.” The final nominee as the youngest-ever Best Actress nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis for “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”
Lawrence and Chastain initially split a number of acting awards, with Chastain winning in the drama category and Lawrence winning in the comedy-or-musical category at both the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. But the two went head-to-head at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where Lawrence’s win made her the presumed Oscar frontrunner.
She recently told TheWrap that acting, which she began to do when she was 14, came easily to her. “I understand it,” she said. “And that’s good, because it’s pretty much the only thing in the entire world that I do understand.”
