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. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.
Jessica Chastain
- Actress
- producer
1998–present
2
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. 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).
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).
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. Chastain is vocal about mental health issues, as well as gender and racial equality. She is married to fashion executive Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, and they have two children.
Career
2004–2010: Early work
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.[19] She relocated to Los Angeles and started auditioning for jobs.[19] She initially found the process difficult, which she believed was due to other people finding her difficult to categorize as a redhead with an unconventional look.[20] In her television debut, The WB network's 2004 pilot remake of the 1960s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, she was cast as Carolyn Stoddard.[21] The pilot was directed by P. J. Hogan, but the series was never picked up for broadcast.[21] Later that year, she appeared as a guest performer on the medical drama series ER playing a woman she described as "psychotic", which led to her getting more unusual parts such as accident victims or characters with mental illness.[19][20] She went on to appear in such roles in a few other television series from 2004 to 2007, including Veronica Mars (2004), Close to Home (2006), Blackbeard (2006), and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005–06).[22]
Personal life
Despite significant media attention, Chastain remains guarded about her personal life, and chooses not to attend red carpet events with a partner.[219][202] She considers herself to be a "shy" person, and in 2011 expressed a preference for domestic routines like dog-walking and playing ukulele over partying.[220] Chastain has cited the actress Isabelle Huppert as an influence, for managing a family, while also playing "out-there roles" on screen.[221]
She is an animal lover, and has adopted a rescue dog.[202] Raised by a vegan chef mother,[222] Chastain was a pescatarian for much of her life before health troubles prompted her to begin practicing veganism.[202] She is an investor in Beyond Meat, a meat substitutes company.[223]
In the 2000s, Chastain was in a long-term relationship with writer-director Ned Benson that ended in 2010.[224] In 2012, she began dating Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, an Italian count of the Passi de Preposulo noble family, who is an executive for the fashion brand Moncler.[7][202] On June 10, 2017, Chastain married Preposulo at his family's estate in Carbonera, Italy.[225] In 2018, the couple had a daughter named Giulietta Passi Chastain through surrogacy.[226][227] They later had a son named Augustus Passi.[138] They reside in New York City.[228][229]