Jennifer Lawrence
By 2015, Jennifer Lawrence was the highest-paid actress in the world, but her career began more modestly when at the age of fourteen she was spotted by a talent scout whilst on vacation with her family in New York. She made her acting debut on television in The Bill Engvall Show, and although she received critical acclaim for her second movie role in the 2008 drama Garden Party, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009 in the Best Supporting Actress category for Winter's Bone, it was not until she was cast as Katniss Everdeen that she came to the attention of the movie going public. The Hunger Games catapulted Lawrence to international superstardom, and made her the highest grossing female action hero in history.
After The Hunger Games, Lawrence went on to earn a second Oscar nomination, this time for her portrayal of a depressed young widow in The Silver Linings Playbook. This time, she won, the second youngest actress to accomplish this. She also endeared herself to Academy Award watchers everywhere by tripping over her own evening gown on her way to the podium to collect her award.
Josh Hutcherson
Whilst Jennifer Lawrence became a household name for her performance as Katniss Everdeen, Hutcherson became a bona fide pin up for young females everywhere, winning both the People's Choice Award and the MTV Movie Award for his portrayal of Peeta Mellark. He had begun his career on the Animal Planet movie Miracle Dogs, which he quickly followed up with The Polar Express in 2004, but it was his performance in the 2007 film The Bridge to Terabithia that caught the eye of The Hunger Games director Gary Ross.
More recently, Hutcherson has begun to explore producing and directing. He has directed three motion pictures since 2011, including the critically acclaimed The Forger, whilst also playing a leading role in them.
Liam Hemsworth
Before he became famous for being Miley Cyrus' husband, Hemsworth was well-known as both an actor, and as the brother of Marvel super-hero Chris Hemsworth. Born in Australia, he trod the familiar path taken by most Australian-born actors and entertainers, taking a role on the daytime soap opera Neighbors, as had Kylie Minogue, Russell Crowe and Alan Dale before him.
Liam auditioned for the role of Thor in the epic movie of the same name, but eventually lost out to his brother Chris, who was cast in his place. However, this may have been a good thing in the end, as Liam was cast opposite his future spouse in the movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' best-selling novel The Last Song.
Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson is probably most famous for playing the role of academically-challenged bartender Woody in the long-running television series Cheers, or even for his portrayal of one half of the husband and wife spree killing team that was Mickey and Mallory Knox in Oliver Stone's controversial movie Natural Born Killers.
However, these achievements are just the tip of the iceberg in a career that has received an impressive three Academy Award nominations, five Emmy Award nominations, and an Emmy win, which came in 1989. Making his big-screen debut in 1986 in the Goldie Hawn football comedy Wildcats, Harrelson reunited with his co-star Wesley Snipes for the comedy White Men Can't Jump. It was an incredible success, both at the box office and among critics, and was the catalyst for his being offered the role of Mickey Knox by Oliver Stone.
Elizabeth Banks
By far the most well-known and prestigious role of her career, Banks' portrayal of Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games led to her being cast in another series of films, Pitch Perfect 1, 2 and 3; Pitch Perfect 2 also saw her make her directorial debut in 2015. The film opened to a whopping sixty nine million dollar weekend, which made Banks the highest grossing opening weekend first time director in history.
Banks is also well-known as a television actress, and has been both much-nominated and often awarded for her work. She received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her performance on the comedy series 30 Rock, and another for her role on Modern Family.
Even viewers who have managed to miss Banks on both popular television series are able to recognize her as the face of the somewhat satirical Realtor.com commercials that began appearing in 2017.
Lenny Kravitz
Kravitz is known as a rock musician, who won Male Rock Vocal Performance Grammy Awards an incredible four successive years from 1999 to 2002, setting a new record for the most wins in that particular category and also breaking the existing record for most consecutive wins in any category by a male artist.
Eventually, Kravitz made his big screen debut in the movie Precious, in 2008, before going on to be cast as Cinna, Katniss's stylist, in the first two Hunger Games movies.
Kravitz is establishing a show business dynasty of his own; his daughter, Zoe Kravitz, is an award-winning actress and style icon in her own right.
Stanley Tucci
Tucci made his film debut in the 1985 hit Prizzi's Honor and has subsequently become a household name by exploring a diverse array of projects over his thirty plus year career. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009 in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work on the movie The Lovely Bones, adapted from the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold. He has also been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Spoken Word Album for The One and Only Shrek.
Tucci's breakthrough role, in terms of the public's perception of him, came in the groundbreaking television drama Murder One, in which he starred as the mysterious character Richard Cross. He followed this up with a supporting role on The Pelican Brief, with Julia Roberts and Road to Perdition.
Tucci has received three Golden Globe nominations, winning twice, firstly in 1998 for his role in Winchell, and almost twenty years later for his portrayal of the architect of evil, Adolf Eichmann, in the Nazi-hunter movie Conspiracy.
Donald Sutherland
Canadian-born Sutherland's acting career spans an incredible half century, and began with roles in popular war movies including The Dirty Dozen, M*A*S*H and Kelley's Heroes. He has been nominated for a whopping eight Golden Globe awards, winning two including one for his performance in Citizen X in 1995, a performance which also earned him a Primetime Emmy Award. n 2001 his career began a resurgence, with roles in the remake of The Italian Job, and as Mr Benet in Pride and Prejudice alongside Kiera Knightley.
Sutherland is the father of three actor sons, the most famous being Kiefer Sutherland, original Brat-packer, and star of the groundbreaking real-time television drama series 24.
Jack Quaid
If you were wondering where you have heard that last name before, wonder no more; Jack Quaid is the oldest son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, and the nephew of Randy Quaid. He made his film debut playing Marvel in The Hunger Games, and in 2018 was cast in the role of Hughie in the Amazon drama series The Boys.
Amandla Stenberg
American actress Amandla Stenberg is a prominent actress, playing Rue, Starr Carter in The Hate U Give, and Madeline Whittier in Everything, Everything. She burst into the mainstream due to her role as Rue in 2012 when she was just 14 years old, and has been booking movie roles ever since.
Amandla identifies as non binary, and has also come out as bisexual and pan sexual. She has also said that she is an intersectional feminist and is a mental health advocate as well as speaking out against cultural appropriation.
