Before They Were Stars: Jennifer Lawrence as a Mascot on “Monk”

It’s become a fun tradition here at The Back Row for me to do “Before They Were Stars” features on the Academy Award nominees shortly after they’ve been announced. Jennifer Lawrence has garnered her second career Oscar nomination this year for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, and I can honestly say this is one of the more baffling “Before They Were Stars” clips I’ve ever come across. One of Lawrence’s earliest acting jobs was a bit part as a basketball mascot in a 2006 episode of Monk. Which means that she spends the majority of the role in a lion suit and you don’t even know it’s her until she takes off her mask at the end! I know she was a complete unknown at the time, but why you would bother to cast a beautiful young actress like her in a role which is spent almost entirely in a mascot costume is beyond me.