Jessica Chastain

Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer.

Known for primarily starring in projects with feminist themes, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Jessica Michelle Chastain was born on March 24, 1977, in Sacramento, California, to Jerri Renee Hastey (née Chastain) and rock musician Michael Monasterio.

Her parents were both teenagers when she was born.

She later attended Sacramento City College from 1996 to 1997, during which she was a member of the institution's debate team.

Describing her early childhood, she recalled:"I [grew up] with a single mother who worked very hard to put food on our table. We did not have money. There were many nights when we had to go to sleep without eating. It was a very difficult upbringing. Things weren't easy for me growing up."

Chastain developed an interest in acting from an early age and made her professional stage debut in 1998 as Shakespeare's Juliet.

After studying acting at the Juilliard School, she was signed to a talent holding deal with the television producer John Wells.

She was a recurring guest star in several television series, and took on roles in several stage productions.

In 1998, Chastain finished her education at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made her professional stage debut as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet staged by TheatreWorks, a company in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The production led her to audition for the Juilliard School in New York City, where she was soon accepted and granted a scholarship funded by actor Robin Williams.

In her first year at the school, Chastain suffered from anxiety and was worried about being dropped from the program, spending most of her time reading and watching films.

She later remarked that her participation in a successful production of The Seagull during her second year helped build her confidence.

Her younger sister, Juliet, died by suicide in 2003 following years of drug addiction.

Chastain was raised in Sacramento by her mother and stepfather, Michael Hastey, a firefighter.

Her family struggled financially.

She has said that her stepfather was the first person to make her feel secure.

She shares a close bond with her maternal grandmother, Marilyn, whom she credits as someone who "always believed in me".

Chastain developed an interest in acting at age seven, after her grandmother took her to a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

She would regularly put on amateur shows with other children, and considered herself to be their artistic director.

As a student at the El Camino Fundamental High School in Sacramento, Chastain struggled academically.

She was a loner and considered herself a misfit in school, eventually finding an outlet in the performing arts.

She has described how she used to miss school to read Shakespeare, whose plays she became enamored with after attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with her classmates.

With too many absences during her senior year in school, Chastain did not qualify for graduation, but later obtained an adult diploma.

She graduated from the school with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2003.

Shortly before graduating from Juilliard, Chastain attended an event for final-year students in Los Angeles, where she was signed to a talent holding deal by the television producer John Wells.

She relocated to Los Angeles and started auditioning for jobs.

After making her film debut at age 31 in the drama Jolene (2008), Chastain had her breakthrough in 2011 with six film releases, including the dramas Take Shelter (2011) and The Tree of Life (2011).

She received Academy Award nominations for playing an aspiring socialite in the period drama The Help (2011) and a CIA analyst in the thriller Zero Dark Thirty (2012).

Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.

On Broadway, Chastain has starred in revivals of The Heiress (2012) and A Doll's House (2023).

The latter earned her a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

She is the founder of the production company Freckle Films, which was created to promote diversity in film, and is an investor in the soccer club Angel City FC.

She is vocal about mental health issues, as well as gender and racial equality.

She is married to fashion executive Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, with whom she has two children.

Chastain is reluctant to publicly discuss her family background; she was estranged from Monasterio, who died in 2013, and has stated that no father is listed on her birth certificate.

She has two sisters and two brothers.

Greater commercial success came with the science fiction films Interstellar (2014) and The Martian (2015), and the horror film It Chapter Two (2019).

Chastain received further acclaim for playing strong-willed women in the dramas A Most Violent Year (2014), Miss Sloane (2016), and Molly's Game (2017), and the television miniseries Scenes from a Marriage (2021).

She went on to portray Tammy Faye Bakker in the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Tammy Wynette in the miniseries George & Tammy (2022).