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Jennifer Lawrence -

This star's rise to fame coincided with Katniss's rise in popularity in 'The Hunger Games' series, she told Vanity Fair. She also cried reading the third book "because [Katniss] finally realizes she can do good with it," and Lawrence realized she could do good with fame as well.

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Kristen Wiig - Wiig told Indiewire that while most people would think her moment came with 'Bridesmaids' or 'SNL,' it was actually before that, when she got into the main company at Groundlings Theater in LA. "It was the first time I had worked so hard to get this one thing and then it happened."

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Anne Hathaway - The actress knew she technically got her big break with 'The Princess Diaries,' but she told Collider that she didn't want to be a princess when she was younger—she wanted to be Catwoman. "And the fact that I am actually her [in 'The Dark Knight Rises'] is such a dream come true."

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Kate Winslet - 'Titanic' was obviously her big break, but Winslet told the Belfast Telegraph that she was certain her life wouldn't change.  "And it truly did, overnight. I remember one day being able to go and buy a newspaper and a pint of milk, no problem, and the next day I actually couldn't get out of the house because of paparazzi."

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Tiffany Haddish - The actress was living out of her car when her "comedy guardian angel" Kevin Hart gave her some money and career direction. Years later, they starred together in 'Night School,' which was a complete turn of events. "I'm just like, 'Wow. Full circle,'" she said, adding that she's tried to pay him back but he refuses.

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Lupita Nyong'o - The actress's moment came with '12 Years A Slave,' but it wasn't about her 15 minutes of fame. To her, "success equals longevity, success equals the luxury of choice," as she told AnOther. For Nyong'o, this film gave her both for years to come.

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Mariah Carey - This singer told V Magazine she realized she made it when she first heard her song on the radio. "It flipped me out. I couldn't believe it. I lived through that experience; I wouldn't trade it."

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Cardi B - Talking to Billboard about her Super Bowl commercial, the rapper said, "Sometimes I ask myself, like, am I enough? Am I there yet? But when you do these types of commercials, it is like they certify you to the world and to yourself."  

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Naomi Watts - The actress had almost skipped over her big break with David Lynch after a series of horrible auditions. "I wasn't getting parts. I was giving myself away," she told The Guardian, "David changed that." After she struck fame in 'Mulholland Drive,' she no longer felt the need to change for other people. "I turned down giant pay checks, giant opportunities … I knew what I liked by then."

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Kim Kardashian - The star had set her goal when she was growing up: "When I was like 11, 12 years old and 'The Real World' came out, I told my best friend, 'Oh I need to be on a reality show,'" she told Wealthsimple. Her moment came when her own show was launched.

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Awkwafina - While shooting a glamorous scene for 'Ocean's 8,' this actress she saw the office where she'd previously been fired. "And here I was shooting a scene with Rihanna. Getting fired from that job really hurt my feelings. Now I could just look up and say, 'F*** y'all,'" she told The Guardian.

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Helen Mirren - After seven years of performing Shakespeare, Mirren was playing Queen Margaret "and I suddenly realized I had the vocal ability to control the language," which she said was a feat since performing Shakespeare is like riding a horse you can't control. "But suddenly I felt I could control this big powerful horse."

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Ali Wong - "Becoming a Halloween costume is still the most unexpected and exciting thing that has happened since 'Baby Cobra.' I still can't believe it," the comedian told The Cut.

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Issa Rae - The 'Insecure' star's moment was when Michelle Obama was freaking out about the finale of her show. "It was like talking to my auntie," she told Glamour.

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Lisa Kudrow - The 'Friends' star said another star clued her in: "Oprah told me." The cast was on her show after the first season, and Kudrow said even being invited on the show wasn't her first clue. It took Oprah telling her for her to realize, she recounted to People.

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Brie Larson - Her moment, she told Elle, was during pre-Oscars press for 'Room,' where she was among the likes of Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, etc. "Kate Winslet saw me and ran across the room and grabbed me and with such a beautiful intensity said, 'I am so f*** excited for you!'"

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Oprah Winfrey - Winfrey was lost for some time until she landed a local talk show, interviewing stars. "All these years I'd been misplaced in news because I couldn't relate," she later recounted on her own show. "The moment I did that talk show I felt like, 'Oh, I can be myself' … that was the beginning of fulfilling the calling."

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Gigi Hadid - Stuck between a volleyball career and modeling, Hadid's moment came when French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld wanted to meet her. She was surprised "Because, like, I have boobs and a butt and whatever," but that was where her rise to fame started, she told W magazine.

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Jessica Chastain - The actress was consistently employed since 2004, but by 2011 she still wasn't famous—until 'The Help' and 'Tree of Life' came along. "One moment, I'm completely unknown; the next, I'm driving through town and I'm on billboards for, like, three different films," she told Independent.

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Jennifer Lopez - The singer's moment was symbolized in her car, according to the Hollywood Reporter. She was driving a Honda hatchback gifted to her when she was a dancer on 'In Living Color.' The moment she was able to buy her own Mercedes marked a significant change in her life. 

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Gloria Estefan - For this singer, it was her first check. "It was for $250 as a songwriter—to me writing is the biggest deal ... The check was for 'Tu Amor Conmigo.'  … I gave the check to my mom and she framed it," she told New York Magazine.

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Constance Wu - Before finding fame, Wu was thousands of dollars in debt, living in LA without any friends, and she eventually asked herself if she was okay if her life stayed like that, waiting tables and struggling to make ends meet. "I decided that I was," she told Vulture. "That's when my work improved because it wasn't results-oriented … That's when I started booking work."

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Amber Heard -

The actress's moment came from her refusal to give up, after sharing an apartment with five other people in Hollywood when she was 18 and realizing it was do or die. "I ate Ramen noodles for a long time and then I landed something and have worked ever since.

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Martha Stewart - On her Reddit AMA, the business mogul said she knew she made it "When I published the first issue of Martha Stewart Living." 

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Karlie Kloss - The moment came early for this model, at age 15, walking for Calvin Klein. "Those runway shows can really catapult you," she told The New York Times,  adding that she was the right girl at the right time.

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Joan Rivers - Rivers had been rejected by 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' around eight times in a year and a half, but it wasn't until another comic had gone on the show and tanked that Bill Cosby suggested "she can't be any worse than that guy." Carson told her on air after her set, "You're going to be a star," and the late star told Time Out that her life changed that night.

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Dita von Teese - "I feel like my defining moment of when I was like, 'Oh, this is like a real job now,' that was when I was on the cover of Playboy … It was the moment where it snowballed, where I got all this attention," she told NY Magazine.

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Rita Moreno - The famed actress had a big moment upon receiving her first fan letter. "I wrote back a ten-page letter telling her all the wonderful things I felt, and how thrilling it was, and all that kind of stuff," she told Elle.

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Zadie Smith -

After her hit novel 'White Teeth,' Smith was "terrified" for a while of attempting a second, but she said a feeling soon washed over her: "I know I'm OK … I can't show you any proof, but I just kind of feel it." 

See also: Famous women on the power of being alone

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