Elisabeth Shue embraces Hollywood's bumpy road

Elisabeth Shue and Jennifer Lawrence play a mother and daughter in "House at the End of the Street," a horror movie opening Friday, and the combo makes sense.

There's both a physical resemblance between the two and a professional one, as the actresses began their careers on similar tracks.

Lawrence, 22, is perhaps the most in-demand young performer in Hollywood, having catapulted to instant fame thanks to the critical smash "Winter's Bone" and "The Hunger Games" phenomenon.

At 20, Shue got her start in 1984's seminal "Karate Kid" and went on to star in such box office hits as "Adventures in Babysitting" and the latter two "Back to the Future" films before earning an Oscar nod for "Leaving Las Vegas."

But Shue, 48, thinks Lawrence is better equipped for instant success than she was.

"What I realize is just how different really our beginnings were," Shue says. "I feel like it took me years to gain a certain confidence, a foothold in this business, and really understand it. I feel like she is so knowledgeable and confident and sure of herself that I think her road will be easier."

But after nearly 30 years of steady work in a fickle business and collaborations with everyone from Woody Allen to Steve Coogan, it's clear that Shue's foothold in Hollywood is secure. That doesn't mean she rests easy, though.

"Oddly in this business, when you feel like possibly you've made it is exactly when the challenges will hit," she says. "What keeps this industry challenging as an actor is that you never know how something will turn out. The ups and downs are constant. You're never just smoothly sailing along. You're always going to be on loose fitting. That's what ultimately now I expect and accept and that doesn't scare me as much."