Jennifer Lawrence Was Once Screamed at by Her Parents for Turning Down a Disney TV Show
Jennifer Lawrence is known for her diverse film roles that have showcased her range. But when she first started out, she had the opportunity to star in her own Disney show. She would later upset her parents by turning that opportunity down.
Jennifer Lawrence once starred in a television series
Before she became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, a younger Lawrence was a part of The Big Engvall Show. The family sitcom ran from 2007-2009 and was Lawrence’s first main television role. Lawrence had a lot of reasons to appreciate her time on the program. Apart from the exposure it gave her, the show offered Lawrence the chance to later do the kinds of projects she was passionate about. Which has served the actor well.
“[Taking that show] was one of the best decisions I ever made,” she once said in an interview with Stylist. “Even indie actors do a studio every once in a while because it means you can still go back and do as many indies as you want afterwards. I don’t think at 16 I really had the mindset of, ‘If I do that then I’ll be able to do this’, I just think it happened that way; but, yes, that show meant I could afford to turn down the crap movies and do what I loved.”
Jennifer Lawrence angered her parents by turning down her own Disney Channel show
The Big Engvall Show wasn’t the only TV series Lawrence was eyed for. In a resurfaced interview with Filmmaker, Lawrence recalled a time she was approached for a Disney TV show. But she politely declined the offer.
“I remember being 14 and I told an executive at Disney that I didn’t think I was very Disney and did not want a television show,” she said. “There are people for that and they’re extremely talented, but everybody has a different avenue that they take and I didn’t fall in love with those things.”
Even back then, Lawrence knew the types of movies she wanted to feature in. And she wasn’t willing to compromise her preferences for Disney’s paycheck.
“I fell in love with the dramas and the grunge and the edgy and the dark – whatever you want to call it,” she continued. “The things that I’ve done are simply the things that I really wanted and I cared about.”
But after telling her parents she rejected the unexpected Disney offer, her parents didn’t share the same sentiment.
“When my parents picked me up they yelled at me so badly. They were spending a lot of money giving me the chance to do this – and I had the potential to be on a television show that would obviously pay for everything and I was like, ‘Nah'”, she said in a 2012 interview with Stella (via Young Hollywood).
Jennifer Lawrence wanted to be a television star forever
Lawrence’s career has gone through a huge evolution since her Engvall days. But before the actor’s mega-stardom, she didn’t mind her status as a sitcom actor. If a younger Lawrence had it her way, she would’ve lived that lifestyle as long as she could.
“When I started acting, I was totally satisfied when I was on a sitcom because I had a steady paycheck. And I was like, ‘Maybe I can just find a way to be on sitcoms forever.’ I was totally satisfied and good. I never dreamed that I could have this kind of career,” she once told The Hollywood Reporter.
