Jennifer Lawrence, at this year’s Golden Globes, seemed stunned to have won her second prize there in two years. “HFPA, you really are, just, too kind!” she said to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, thanking her “American Hustle” director and fellow nominees before saying, “I’m sorry I’m shaking so much — don’t ever do this again! It’s so scary!”

She seems to have meant it. The 2013 Golden Globe and Oscar champion, Lawrence has put absolutely no effort into campaigning for a second Oscar — one that would make her only the sixth person in history, and the first since Tom Hanks, to win in consecutive years. Lawrence seemed nonplussed and anxious to have won at the Golden Globes; she skipped the BAFTAs (Britain’s equivalent of the Academy Awards), at which she won, as well as the Academy Award nominees luncheon; she has done next to no press as a nominee.

The official reason, here, is not solely pique (as it is in the case of Lawrence’s “Hustle” costar Christian Bale) but the contingencies of Lawrence’s filming schedule, one that “Hustle” director David O. Russell called “12 years of slavery.” Hooked into the “X-Men” and “Hunger Games” franchises, Lawrence’s life is largely composed of long, action-packed shooting days; that she was able to get away to shoot “American Hustle” is a function of the fact that the role is a long cameo.

It’s a short, funny role — and Lawrence’s main competition in the best supporting actress race is Lupita Nyong’o — the likable new star whose performance in “12 Years a Slave” is riveting and heartbreaking. For all Lawrence’s accolades, Nyong’o, who won the Screen Actors Guild Award and seems to be the critical favorite, has gathered as many.

They’re a picture in contrasts: Lawrence, at 23, has already scooped up three Oscar nominations and the big prize. Nyong’o, at 30, waited for “Slave” to make her film debut (she’d previously been getting a drama degree at Yale). If Lawrence wins, it won’t necessarily be undeserved — she’s quite amusing in “Hustle” — but will document just how much easier it is for an actress who looks like Lawrence to triumph generally. There simply aren’t nonwhite actresses who have won multiple Oscars, ever, let alone before their 25th birthday.