photo courtesy of LionsgateIn the movie "The Hunger Games," she is a lethal, knife-throwing killer. And now, Isabelle Fuhrman, who plays the deadly character Clove in the newly released post-apocalyptic movie, is a Web sensation.
The 15-year-old plays District 2's blood-thirsty tribute in the government-sponsored reality show that forces children to fight each other to the death, and she proves to be a formidable opponent to Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen.
The young talent is no stranger to dark roles. Her breakout part was the creepy star of the dark horror film, "The Orphan." The Atlanta native, is a fan of the "Hunger Games" book series, and recounted to Teen Vogue that she had originally auditioned for the role of Katniss. Instead, she got a call that they wanted her to try for the part of Clove, which she won. The perky teen told the magazine she enjoyed the villainous role: "I think it's more fun because you get to dive into the character's soul and figure out what made them so bad."
Her performance certainly caught the attention of the Web. Lookups on "isabelle fuhrman," "clove hunger games," and "isabelle fuhrman hunger games" all rose over the weekend. The actress, who performed many of her own stunts, admitted to Seventeen magazine that training for the role was similar to the tribute training in the movie: "We had to really be good at our own craft, so I did a ton of knife throwing and combat."
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She explained to Entertainment Weekly that her knife training took two weeks to perfect her throw. "It was very interesting. I don't have that strong of an arm, so it was starting with throwing a tennis ball at a target [with] the right form. And then move to a baseball. And then move to plastic knives. And then move to duct-tape-and-cardboard knives. And then move to the actual knives. A lot of it was physics…a lot times I'd throw it, and it'd end up with the butt end in, and the blade would be sticking out. Which is not what you want to do."
The poised young star now lives in L.A. and is completing her high school work through Stanford University for pre-collegiate studies. The beautiful brunette told Good Day New York that she actually considers herself "a bit of a nerd. I really like school." But adds that acting is where she wants to stay. "It is really something that I love to do. That really is my home."
Watch the trailer for 'The Hunger Games:'