Jennifer Lawrence has to be this year’s least-likely Oscar hopeful, since the 20-year-old nominee for Best Actress is up against a formidable field of Natalie Portman, Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams. That’s pretty rarefied company for a tomboy from Louisville, Kentucky, who grew up fishing, riding horses, and playing sports like softball and field hockey.

The blonde beauty jokes that although she lives in L.A. now, “little redneck things still come out.” What kind of redneck things? “I’m attracted to my brother. Stuff like that.” Lucky brother! That down home experience made Jennifer perfect for the part in “Winter’s Bone” that won her the nomination.

She portrays a 17-year-old in the Ozarks who struggles to take care of her younger siblings while their daddy cooks meth. Jennifer told Rolling Stone how she prepared for the part, which involved learning to shoot a gun and field-dress a squirrel. One skill she didn’t have to master was chopping wood, because, “I went through a wood-chopping phase when I was nine or 10.”

Realistically, Jennifer isn’t the favorite to win that Best Actress Oscar, since this is so thoroughly Natalie Portman’s year. But not that many fledgling actresses get nominated for the first time at 20, so Jennifer’s way ahead of the game. Read more about Jennifer in the February 17 issue of Rolling Stone and see more sexy shots of her after the jump.