Jennifer Lawrence Recalls Wild Model Scout Encounter That Led to Big Break

Would you believe that acting wasn’t initially top of of mind for Jennifer Lawrence?

The Die My Love actress, 35, revealed during a conversation with Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast that fashion was initially the direction she as headed after randomly being stopped on the street by a talent scout when she was a teenager.

Lawrence, who’s from Louisville, Ky., recalled a New York City trip she took with her mom when the interaction happened. While they were watching a street dancing stint, they were approached by a man named Daniel who asked her mother if he could take a photo of her.

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“No sense of danger,” she joked looking back, admitting that they took the man up on his offer to snap a pic. “If he had told us to meet him a hotel room, we one hundred percent would have,” she quipped.

“And then he took my picture on the street,” said Lawrence, who claimed that Joe Jonas actually wore the picture that the man took on his T-shirt at a concert one time, noting “it was the first time” she had seen the photo of herself since it happened.

“I was like, ‘How did Joe Jonas get it?’ ” she laughed. Poehler, 54, added, “That’s so weird.”

Lawrence said she’s since seen the photo, but “doesn’t know what to do with it” herself, joking, “I’m not going to print it out.”

Then, The Hunger Games star went on to explain how she was interviewed by modeling agencies after her interaction with Daniel. “What was becoming really apparent was like, ‘If you’re a model, you’re a model,” she said, noting that there was no crossover between the fashion gig and acting at the time.

However, Lawrence was sure to make one thing clear when chatting with interested agents. “Somewhere during those interviews, I decided that I would only sign with an agency that would also let me act,” she said.

Lawrence admitted that she “never” thought she would consider acting as a job, saying that she didn’t personally know any actors growing up either.

“But then once it was kind of brought up as a possibility, I mean, I would always watch Hillary Duff when I got home from school and then I would, like, do Hillary Duff in the mirror. So it kind of all came together,” she said.

Poehler, who was baffled at the random “needle in a haystack” scouting in N.Y.C., asked Lawrence if she thinks she would’ve pursued acting if she hadn’t been approached on the streets. “I don’t think so,” the actress admitted, adding, “I don’t think I would’ve been aware that that was possible.”

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Lawrence’s acting career began soon after, starting with guest roles on TV as a teen. Her first major gig was on the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, where she was a main cast member from 2007 to 2009.

The actress made her film debut in 2008’s Garden Party as troubled teenager named Tiff. Her breakthrough role, however, came in 2010’s independent film Winter’s Bone, which earned her her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

She went on to captivate audiences and rise to stardom in the years that followed. She’s known for her work as Mystique in the X-Men film series (2011 to 2019), Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games film series (2012-present) and more.

Lawrence won an Oscar for Best Actress at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, making her the second-youngest winner in that category at the time. She has four total Oscar nods to date.