What is Jennifer Lawrence's net worth and salary?
Jennifer Lawrence is an award-winning American actress who has a net worth of $160 million. To date, Jennifer Lawrence's films have grossed more than $6 billion worldwide. She was the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016, with earnings that topped $30 million. In 2013, she was on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Jennifer Lawrence first gained early recognition for her role in the television series "The Bill Engvall Show" (2007-2009), but it was her performance in the independent drama "Winter's Bone" (2010) that catapulted her to stardom, earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Lawrence's career took off when she was cast as Mystique in the "X-Men" film series (2011-2019) and as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games" film series (2012-2015). Her portrayal of Katniss made her the highest-grossing action heroine of all time.
Her performance in "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012) earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second-youngest winner of the award. She received further critical acclaim for her roles in "American Hustle" (2013) and "Joy" (2015), earning Academy Award nominations for both performances.
Jennifer Lawrence is an outspoken feminist and advocate for Planned Parenthood. She founded the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation in 2015 with the mission to advocate for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Special Olympics. In 2018, she formed the production company Excellent Cadaver.
Early Life
Jennifer Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 15, 1990. The youngest of three children, Jennifer grew up with two older brothers who did what most older brothers do – alternated between protecting her fiercely and tormenting her. She has described herself as a "strange" child. She had trouble connecting with her peers and would often make up wild stories. She also had a habit of answering every question she was asked with total honesty, which did not always make her the favorite person in the room. She began acting in local theater productions and seemed to find herself onstage.
In high school, Lawrence was a cheerleader, a member of the field hockey team, and played on the boys' basketball team, which was coached by her father. When Lawrence was 14 and on a family vacation in New York City, a talent scout spotted her on the street and arranged an audition for talent agents. After her first audition, the agents said she was the best they had seen from someone that young. Lawrence's mom wasn't thrilled with her daughter's acting ambitions. She signed on with the CESD Talent Agency and began auditioning for roles in Los Angeles. Lawrence dropped out of high school at 14. She never graduated or received her GED.
John Shearer/Getty Images
Career
After moving to California, Jennifer began working almost immediately. She guest-starred on "Monk" and "Cold Case" and appeared in the pilots for "Company Town" and "Not Another High School Show". Neither of the pilots were picked up, but her work was noticed. She was cast in a recurring role on "Medium" and then joined the cast of "The Bill Engvall Show" as Lauren Pearson, a co-starring role. She garnered favorable reviews on "The Bill Engvall Show" and made the leap to feature film work in 2008. She appeared in two smaller projects, "Garden Party" and "The Poker House," receiving critical accolades for both. 2009 saw her appearing in "The Burning Plain" opposite Charlize Theron. She won her first major acting award for the film, taking home the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Emerging Actor/Actress at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2010, she starred in the critically acclaimed independent film, "Winter's Bone". Her work as the film's central character, Ree Dolly, was universally praised. She received numerous acting awards and nominations, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She was twenty years old. Her work in "Winter's Bone" catapulted her to a whole new level. Suddenly, everyone wanted her. In 2011, she appeared in "Like Crazy," "The Beaver," and "X-Men: First Class" in quick succession. She had little time for anything but running between sets, interviews, and auditions. In 2012, she accepted the role that would make her an international star. She signed on to play Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games." When she was offered the part, she did not immediately jump on the role. A huge fan of the Suzane Collins books, she knew how difficult it would be to do the character justice, and she had no idea how the movies would be received. She and Kristen Stewart had both been considered for the "Twilight" series, and she had watched Kristen endure the public scrutiny that came with playing Bella. Jennifer was not certain she wanted to deal with any of it. However, after three days of deliberating, she said yes. "The Hunger Games" went on to be a massive, massive success. It set opening weekend box office records and made Jennifer Lawrence a bona fide female action star. She signed on to star in the rest of the series.
Unlike many action stars, she was not content to stick to action heroes. She immediately returned to quieter, more dramatic projects, starring in the horror/thriller "The House at the End of the Street" and a romantic comedy called "Silver Linings Playbook." Her work in "Silver Linings Playbook" was considered a revelation. By the end of 2012, she had collected even more awards and nominations, including another Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award… and the list goes on. She basically won everything. Since then, she has appeared in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," which was even more successful than its predecessor, and "American Hustle," which garnered her the third aforementioned Oscar nomination. In 2014, she was already slated to appear in "Serena," "X-Men: Days of Future Past," "Dumb and Dumber To," and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1".
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
In 2013, Lawrence once again worked with director David O. Russell on the ensemble crime drama American Hustle. She played Rosalyn Rosenfeld, the neurotic wife of con man Irving Rosenfeld, played by Christian Bale. Lawrence's performance won her the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, in addition to a third Academy Award nomination, her first in the supporting category.
She worked with Russell a third time in 2015's Joy, based on the true-life story of a single mom down on her luck who invents the Miracle Mop. The film didn't do as well as the previous Lawrence-Russell films, but her performance was praised. She won a third Golden Globe Award and was nominated for another Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the youngest person to accrue four Oscar nominations.
Jennifer Lawrence Oscar Winner / JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images
At one point, Lawrence was slated to play Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in Adam McKay's Bad Blood. She dropped out of this project after watching Amanda Seyfried's performance as Elizabeth in Hulu's The Dropout.
Jennifer wrapped a project known as the Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project, which is about a US soldier who suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home. She appeared in and produced 2022's Causeway and is working on the comedy No Hard Feelings as an actress and producer.
She is frequently praised for her acting talents and is often compared to a young Meryl Streep in terms of her acting abilities and personality. Today, Jennifer is one of the most sought-after actresses working in Hollywood and will likely have an incredibly successful career for years to come.
Personal Life
While filming X Men: First Class in 2010, she began a relationship with her co-star Nicholas Hoult. The two dated until around the time they wrapped production on X Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. That same year, Lawrence was a victim of the iCloud hack of celebrity photos, and dozens of her nude selfies were leaked online. In the fall of 2016, she started dating director Darren Aronofsky, whom she met during the filming of Mother!. They split up a bit over a year later. She started dating art gallery director Cooke Maroney in 2018. They got engaged in February 2019 and married in October 2019 in Rhode Island. In February 2022, Lawrence gave birth to their son, Cy.
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Jennifer Lawrence Film Salaries
Lawrence's salary for Winter's Bone was $3,000 per week. In 2012, Jennifer Lawrence's salary for the first Hunger Games movie was just $500,000, but after its massive commercial success, her salary skyrocketed for the next two movies. She earned $10 million for the second and $30-40 million for the fourth in base salary and bonuses. For the 2016 movie Passengers, Jennifer earned $20 million, which was $8 million more than her co-star Chris Pratt. For the 2018 movie Red Sparrow, she earned $15 million.
Today, Jennifer typically commands a minimum of $15 million in base pay for a movie. That number can grow significantly with bonus milestones. Between August 2017 and August 2018, Jennifer earned $20 million between salary and endorsements, making her one of the five highest-paid actresses on the planet.
For the 2021 Netflix movie Don't Look Up Jennifer was paid $25 million, which was actually $5 million less than her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, but she did receive top-billing.
Jennifer Lawrence's Salary Highlights
- American Hustle – $4 million (2013)
- X-Men: Days of Future Past – $6 million (2014)
- X-Men Apocalypse – $8 million (2016)
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $10 million (2013)
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – $15 million (2014)
- Joy – $15 million (2014)
- Passengers – $20 million (2016)
- Don't Look Up – $25 million (2021)
These eight movies alone add up to $103 million in pre-tax income.
Jennifer Lawrence / Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Real Estate
In 2014, Lawrence paid $8.225 million for a 5,500-square-foot house in Beverly Hills. Previous owners included Ellen DeGeneres and Jessica Simpson.
In 2016, she paid a whopping $15.6 million for a penthouse apartment in NYC's Upper West Side. She listed the unit for sale in 2019 for $15.45 million. Unfortunately, she ultimately took a $5+ million loss on the unit when she offloaded it in 2020 for $9.9 million.
In 2017, she paid $9 million for a second NYC apartment, this one in Tribeca. She reportedly rented this unit for $25-$30,000 per month. She listed it for $10.5 million and sold it in early 2023 for $9.8 million.
In October 2020, Jennifer paid a whopping $22 million for a 5,000-square-foot apartment in New York City's West Village.
