Where The Hunger Games Stars Got Their Starts

By Rita Kokshanian
Nov 04, 2014 @ 1:45 pm
Walt Disney Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

The day we've all been waiting for, also known as Nov. 21, when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 hits theaters, is quickly approaching. And although we can't wait to see Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, and the rest of the cast reprise their iconic roles for the third movie in the series, we're celebrating it by taking a look back at where these stars got their starts.

Did you know that Jena Malone, who plays Johanna Mason, made her big screen debut opposite Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts in Stepmom? Or that Hemsworth's first big American role was alongside former fiancée Miley Cyrus in The Last Song? Click through our gallery to see all of the stars' breakout roles (some of them may surprise you!) and catch Mockingjay – Part 1 when it hits theaters Nov. 21.

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Liam Hemsworth (Gale Hawthorne)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Thanks to homegrown soap operas like Neighbours, Australians were already familiar with Hemsworth, but the actor was introduced to American audiences when he played the lead role in the 2010 tearjerker The Last Song—and began dating co-star Miley Cyrus.

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Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen)

Twentieth Century Fox,Steve Granitz/WireImage

The Kentucky native got her start on the small screen with guest spots on Monk and Cold Case, as well as a recurring role on The Bill Engvall Show. But it was her performance in Winter's Bone' that would lead to her first Oscar nomination and roles in big budget movies likeX Men: First Class.

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Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark)

Regency Entertainment

Before landing the coveted Hunger Games role, Hutcherson proved he had leading man potential in the 2005 family movie Little Manhattan. (Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon played his mom!) By 2010, he was sharing the screen with A-list actresses Julianne Moore and Annette Bening in the indie flick The Kids Are Alright.

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Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket)

Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection

Banks built her reputation as a very funny lady with scene-stealing appearances in movies like Wet Hot American Summer and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. She also cracked up small screen audiences as a guest star on Scrubs and 30 Rock. In 2008, the actress won critical praise when she channeled a former First Lady in Oliver Stone’s W.

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Woody Harrelson (Haymitch Abernathy)

Paramount TV/ Courtesy: Everett Colleciton.

Playing a loveable lunkhead on the long-running TV series Cheers earned Harrelson an Emmy and helped kick-start his film career. The actor became a box office draw with movies like White Men Can't Jump, Indecent Proposal and Natural Born Killers and scored an Oscar nomination for his role in The People vs. Larry Flynt. Most recently he’s received critical praise for his work in indie offerings like The Messenger and Zombieland.

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Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman)

20th Century Fox

Tucci got his start on Broadway, eventually making the jump from stage to screen. During his career, the character actor has created an impressive resume of credits, from his early work on TV shows like Miami Vice and Wiseguy to memorable movie roles in The Devil Wears Prada, Julie & Julia and The Lovely Bones.

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Lenny Kravitz (Cinna)

Debbie VanStory/Abaca
Known for his retro sound and his eclectic fashion sense, the four-time Grammy winner (whose mother was The Jeffersons star Roxie Roker) made his big-screen debut as the voice of a baby in The Rugrats Movie in 1998. In 2009, Kravitz turned in an impressive performance as Nurse John in the Tyler Perry drama Precious.

See almost 20 years of Kravitz's boundary-pushing style (dreads, pearls, chandelier earrings and more!) in his Transformation.See almost 20 years of Kravitz's boundary-pushing style (dreads, pearls, chandelier earrings and more!) in his Transformation.

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Jena Malone (Johanna Mason)

Columbia/Courtesy Everett Collection
Malone caught the acting bug early on, first testing her chops in community theater before breaking into TV and movies. Her first big role came at the age of 14 with the 1999 film Stepmom, in which she starred opposite Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon. After that, she went on to rack up diverse roles in movies such as Donnie Darko, Saved!, Pride and Prejudice and Into the Wild.

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Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair)

Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
After making his onscreen debut in the 2010 miniseries adaptation of Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth, the British hunk’s career took off. Clalfin began landing coveted roles in big studio films like Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides and Snow White and the Huntsmen, which co-starred Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron.
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Lynn Cohen (Mags)

Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection
Recognize Lynn Cohen? She played Miranda Hobbes’s (Cynthia Nixon) nanny Magda on Sex and the City from 2000 to 2004! In fact, her career is filled with starring roles, including a long run as Judge Elizabeth Mizener on Law amp Order and big screen turns in movies like Munich and Eagle Eye.

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Philip Seymour Hoffman (Plutarch Heavensbee)

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy Everett Collection
The New York native perfected his craft at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before beginning his acting career, which includes a long list of impressive roles in films such as, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Almost Famous, Cold Mountain, and of course, his Oscar winning role as Truman Capote in 2005's Capote.

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Leven Rambin (Glimmer)

Adam Taylor/ABC via Getty Images

The Hunger Games may be Rambin’s first major studio film, but she’s got plenty of experience on the small screen. After breaking into acting playing the dual role of look-alike sisters on the popular soap All My Children, Rambin went on to appear in shows like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Grey’s Anatomy, Wizards of Waverly Place and One Tree Hill.

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