Category: Head of the Class

Lawrence, 26, who has been an outspoken warrior against the gender pay gap, earned a huge $20 million paycheck for her latest film, the sci-fi romance Passengers (out Dec. 21) opposite Chris Pratt, cementing herself as the highest-paid actress working today. “We can ask for the same exact thing that men do, and we do face the reality that we do get judged more,” she has said of the industry double standard. “It’s just something that’s intrinsic. I would love to see change.” The in-demand Hunger Games star, who also is the youngest actress to earn four Oscar nominations (she’s won one), already has filmed Darren Aronofsky’s next movie about a couple whose relationship is tested by uninvited guests. She’s attached to a slew of high-profile projects, including Adam McKay’s Bad Blood, about controversial Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes; Francis Lawrence’s spy thriller Red Sparrow; and Steven Spielberg’s It’s What I Do, based on the memoir by war photographer Lynsey Addario.

Including the Hunger Games and X-Men franchises, Lawrence’s films have earned north of $5.3 billion worldwide. In 2015, she launched the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation, which supports various charities including the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Special Olympics, and, after Donald Trump won the presidential election, she penned a passionate letter (for Vice’s woman-centered Broadly channel) to those disappointed by the results: “Do not let this defeat you — let this enrage you! Let it motivate you! Let this be the fire you didn’t have before.”

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