20 Times Actors Bet Against Hollywood (And WON)

20. Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone

Acting is a crowded world and in order to set yourself apart, sometimes you just have to really go for it. That's exactly what happened here. 

When writer-director Debra Granik was prepping her coming-of-age quasi-Western Winter's Bone, she was screening various actresses for the lead role of Ree Dolly, a teenage girl forced to look after her destitute family. A particular 20-year-old auditioned for the part but was turned down as it was felt she was looked too cute for the part. 

And yet, when the casting team was in New York, that same actress showed up unannounced, having just got off a red eye flight. She hadn't washed her hair in a week, she'd walked through the snowy city without a coat and she did all of this to prove to Granik that she could shed her polished look. She read again and finally got the part. 

That actress was Jennifer Lawrence and she was fantastic in the part, delivering a star-making turn that allowed her to become one of the youngest-ever nominees for Best Actress. Better still, this role fully established her on the Hollywood scene and over the next few years following this she'd became one of the biggest stars in the world.