"Jessica Chastain"

Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American theater, film and television actress. Chastain played guest roles in several television shows before making her feature film debut with the 2008 independent film Jolene. In 2011, she gained wide public recognition for her starring roles in seven film releases. Her performance in The Help received rave reviews and earned her several accolades, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. In the military thriller film Zero Dark Thirty, she won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama and received her second consecutive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

In 2012, Time magazine featured her as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". Chastain's performances in Zero Dark Thirty and in the 2013 horror film Mama led film critic Richard Roeper to describe her as "one of the finest actors of her generation".

Chastain was born in Sacramento, California. She was raised by her mother, a vegan chef, and her stepfather, a fireman. She is close to her grandmother Marilyn, who attended the Oscar ceremony with her in 2012 and 2013.

She graduated from El Camino High School in Sacramento in 1995 and attended Sacramento City College, where she was a member of the debate team (1996–1997). In 1998, she appeared as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet staged by TheatreWorks, a professional theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chastain then attended the Juilliard School in New York City as a member of the Drama Division's Group 32 (1999–2003), which also included Michael Urie and Jess Weixler. The funding making it possible for her to attend was provided through a scholarship by Robin Williams. She was an active participant in the drama department and starred in several theatrical productions and student film projects. She graduated from Juilliard with a B.F.A. degree in 2003.

Chastain was born in Sacramento, California. She was raised by her mother, a vegan chef, and her stepfather, a fireman. She is close to her grandmother Marilyn, who attended the Oscar ceremony with her in 2012 and 2013.

In 2011, Chastain showed a wide variety in her roles, including: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and the crime thriller Texas Killing Fields.

Chastain's biggest commercial success of 2011 was The Help, which was based on Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The movie received positive reviews from critics and became an immediate box office hit grossing $169,620,611 in North America, and $35,700,000 in other territories, as of February 2, 2012, for a worldwide total of $205,320,611. Chastain's performance received praise from critics, and gave her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination, which she lost to her co-star Octavia Spencer. Chastain continued to receive rave reviews for her performance in the 2011 film Take Shelter playing the wife of a small town man plagued by apocalyptic visions.

In John Madden's drama-thriller film The Debt, she portrayed a young Mossad agent sent to East Berlin in the mid-1960s to capture a former Nazi doctor who carried out medical experiments in concentration camps. Chastain shared her role with Helen Mirren, both actresses portraying the character at different phases of her life. The actresses worked together before shooting started, creating a consistent voice and mannerisms for their character, while Chastain also took classes in krav maga and German, and studied books about Josef Mengele and Mossad history to prepare herself for the film.

Premiering at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010, the movie was released on August 31, 2011 and Chastain received positive reviews from critics and viewers. It went on to become a moderate box office hit. On November 29, 2011, Chastain announced as New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in The Help, Take Shelter and The Tree of Life as well as gaining an Independent Spirit Award nomination the same day for her performance in Take Shelter. On December 1, 2011, she received a Satellite Award nomination as best supporting actress for her performance as Mrs. O'Brien in The Tree of Life, she went on to win the award and many other honors from critics including the: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Chastain starred as Virgilia in the adaptation and Ralph Fiennes's directorial debut, Coriolanus, which was released in January 2012 and was met with generally positive reviews from the critics. In the animated film, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, she voiced Gia the jaguar with an Italian accent, the film was released on June 8, 2012 and received generally positive reviews from critics.


Chastain has also completed a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome alongside Al Pacino. She was featured in John Hillcoat's prohibition era drama, Lawless.

In April 2012, Chastain entered the list of Time 100 most influential people of the world. She was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals for 2012. The same month, Chastain was named the ambassador of the new Yves Saint Laurent fragrance, called Manifesto. The fragrance was released in August 2012, Chastain stated: "Yves Saint Laurent is a brand that inspires me deeply. Since its creation, the brand has conveyed strong values that I cherish, such as an unwavering commitment, absolute love and feminine audacity. This new fragrance is an emblem of it all. I am [excited] to be part of this beautiful adventure."

In 2012, she appeared in Tar as C.K. Williams' mother. She reunited with Terrence Malick in the romantic drama film To the Wonder, but her performance was later cut from the film. In early 2012, Chastain was reported to star in the action films Oblivion and Iron Man 3, but dropped out. Chastain was also offered for the role of Princess Diana in the upcoming biopic film Diana but dropped out and was replaced by Naomi Watts. She then starred as the lead in Kathryn Bigelow's action thriller film Zero Dark Thirty, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2013, she played the lead role, alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, in Andres Muschietti's horror film Mama (2013), based on Muschietti's 2008 Spanish-language short film, Mamá. With the release of Mama and Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain became the first woman in 50 years to have the leading role in the top two movies at the box office. Also in 2012, Chastain made her Broadway debut in a limited-run revival of The Heiress, playing Catherine Sloper. The play ran on Broadway, at the Walter Kerr Theatre from November 1, 2012 to February 9, 2013, the original final performance having been canceled so she could attend the BAFTAs.

In 2013, it was announced that Chastain would play the female lead and title character in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby opposite James McAvoy. The film is about a two-part drama told from his and hers perspectives, set to hit theaters in 2013. She will also play the lead and title role in Miss Julie, a film adaptation of August Strindberg's play, being directed by Liv Ullmann. Chastain will be teaming up with Guillermo Del Toro again in his new film Crimsons Peak. She will star in the feature film adaptation of The Zookeeper's Wife, directed by Niki Caro.

Chastain is in talks to star with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in Interstellar, the next film that Christopher Nolan will direct.

Chastain is a vegan and has said about her vegan lifestyle: "I don't want to torture anything. It's about trying to live a life where I'm not contributing to the cruelty in the world. While I am on this planet, I want everyone I meet to know that I am grateful they are here." She currently lives in NoHo, a neighborhood in Manhattan, with her dog Chaplin, a three-legged rescue dog. She is currently dating Gian Luca Passi, an Italian-born executive for French fashion brand Moncler.

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Jolene	Jolene
2009	Stolen	Sally Ann
2011	Wilde Salome	Salome
2011	Take Shelter	Samantha LaForche
2011	Coriolanus	Virgilia
2011	The Debt	Young Rachel Singer
2011	The Tree of Life	Mrs. O'Brien
2011	The Help	Celia Foote
2011	Texas Killing Fields	Detective Pam Stall
2012	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	Gia The Jaguar	Voice only
2012	Lawless	Maggie Beauford
2012	Tar	Mrs. Williams
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	Maya
2013	Mama	Annabel
2013	The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His	Eleanor Rigby	Post-production
2013	The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers	Eleanor Rigby	Post-production
2014	Miss Julie	Miss Julie	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	ER	Dahlia Taslitz	Episode: "Forgive and Forget"
2004	Veronica Mars	Sarah Williams	Episode: "The Girl Next Door"
2005	Dark Shadows	Carolyn Stoddard	Unaired Pilot
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Assistant District Attorney Sigrun Borg	3 episodes
2006	Close to Home	Casey Wirth	Episode: "The Rapist Next Door"
2006	The Evidence	Laura Green	Episode: "Pilot"
2006	Blackbeard	Charlotte Ormand	Television movie
2007	Journeyman	Tanna Bloom	Episode: "Friendly Skies"
2010	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Mary Debenham	Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express"

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theater
2012	The Heiress	Catherine Sloper	Walter Kerr Theatre

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org