merry and free'

Lawrence’s parents — her dad owned a construction business; the two now run a summer day camp-were initially less than thrilled with their daughter’s decision to become an actress.

When Lawrence was 14, she persuaded them to let her spend the summer in New York City going on auditions. As summer came to an end, her parents wanted her to come back home already. In the midst of their arguments, Lawrence happened to see a newspaper story about a boy from Kentucky starring in a new movie called Little Manhattan. “I was like, ‘Look, see? He’s from Kentucky and he made it’ I can do it too!’ And, weirdly, it helped them accept that this is what I wanted to do.”

That boy was Josh Hutcherson. In a nifty twist of fate, he’ll play Peeta, Lawrence’s favorite character from the Hunger Games trilogy.