Name: Jessica Michelle Chastain
Birthdate: March 24, 1977
Birthplace: Sacramento, California
Claim to fame: She gained wide public recognition for her role as Celia Foote in 2011’s The Help, which she earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was then nominated again in 2012 for her role in the controversial military thriller, Zero Dark Thirty, but this time for Best Actress in a lead role.
What we can see her in next: She will be appearing in Christopher Nolan’s epic Interstellar, which hits theatres on November 6.
Interesting Fact: She attended the Juilliard School in New York to study drama on the ‘Robin Williams Scholarship’. Williams was an alumnus of the school and every two years provided the money for a full-ride scholarship to give to an exceptional student. Chastain won that scholarship, which meant she was able to be the first member of her family to go to college. Sadly, she never got to meet Williams before his death to thank him for helping her start her career.
Best quote: “People were confused by me, and at first I was auditioning a lot for the crazy characters or the victim, someone who’d been attacked, which is great, because usually those are the best acting roles.” — on making the most out of her roles being limited early on in her career because of her red hair and not conventionally modern appearance.
Why we love her: What’s not to love about Jessica Chastain? She’s that angelic redhead that seems to be from a completely different era. She has that old-school beauty that reminds you of classic movie actresses from past generations. That, and she’s one of the most prominent actresses of her generation. An actress who seems to steer clear of conventional roles, which seems to suit her and her not conventionally modern good looks just fine.
Chastain started her acting career by attending the Juilliard School in New York. She came from a family with very little means, but by the way of the ‘Robin Williams Scholarship’ (a fund that Williams pays for every two years to give to an exceptional student) she was able to move to New York and pursue her dream. Quickly upon graduation, she found out just how tough it was going to be to book jobs because of her striking redheaded appearance. She found that she was only getting cast as the “psychotic woman” roles, which she claims was actually a blessing because those were the meaty acting roles. She eventually gained wide spread recognition in 2011 when she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in The Help (which she lost out to her co-star Octivia Spencer).
Since then it seems that Chastain has been in the list of nominees every year for the Oscars. Some of her most notable movies over the years are Tree of Life, Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty, and Mama.
This beauty has definitely got it all, and then some. She’s simply the lady in red you can’t miss, and nor do you want to.
You can catch Interstellar in theatres on November 6.
