Jessica Chastain
Jessica Chastain (birthname: Jessica Michelle Chastain) is an Oscar-winner for Best Actress after being previously twice-nominated over the span of just one decade (not to mention her Emmy, Tony and BAFTA nominations), starting her career on the stage and then debuting on the big screen in the lead title role of the Dan Ireland-directed drama based on E.L. Doctorow’s 2002 story, Jolene (2008), with Dermot Mulroney, Chazz Palminteri, Rupert Friend, Denise Richards, Francis Fisher and Theresa Russell, and released by E1 Entertainment. Chastain played a supporting role in director/producer Anders Anderson’s mystery, Stolen (2009), with star-producer Josh Lucas, Jon Hamm and Rhoma Mitra, premiering at the Busan Film Festival and released by IFC Films, and then Chastain appeared in her first major co-starring role (opposite Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington and Tom Wilkinson) in the English-language remake of the 2007 Israeli movie, The Debt (2010), co-written and produced (in part) by Matthew Vaughn (with co-writers Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan), directed by John Madden, and distributed by Focus Features (U.S.)/Universal Pictures International (International) to a $45.6 million gross.
Chastain had her artistic breakthrough as co-star with Michael Shannon of director/writer Jeff Nichols’s extraordinary psychological drama, Take Shelter (2011), with Shea Whigham and Kathy Baker, and which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival (and then in Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix) before a release by Sony Pictures Classics (North and Latin America, Australia and New Zealand)/FilmNation Entertainment (International). Chastain joined the ensemble of star-director-producer Ralph Fiennes’s stark version of Shakespeare’s Coroiolanus (2011), adapted by John Logan (who was also a producer), with Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox and John Kani, premiering in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and which was released by The Weinstein Company (U.S.)/Lionsgate (U.K.).
Jessica Chastain then co-starred with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt (who was also a producer) in director/writer Terrence Malick’s acclaimed existential drama, The Tree of Life (2011), with Tye Sheridan, Hunter McCracken Laramie Eppler and Fiona Shaw, winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival before a release by Fox Searchlight Pictures (U.S., U.K., Ireland)/Summit Entertainment (International), followed by Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director and Cinematography. Chastain co-starred in another 2012 Best Picture-nominated movie—and landed her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress—with director/writer Tate Taylor’s big-screen version of Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel set in 1960s Mississippi, The Help (2011), co-starring Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Octavia Spencer (winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar) and Emma Stone, and which grossed nearly ten times estimated costs with a great $221.8 million return for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Worldwide)/Reliance Entertainment (India).
Chastain co-starred with star/director/writer Al Pacino in the experimental non-fiction film, Wilde Salomé (2011), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Queer Lion prize and Pacino received Venice’s Glory to the Filmmaker! Award, and then Chastain joined co-stars Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Mordan and Chloe Grace Moretz under Ami Canaan Mann’s direction in the crime movie, Texas Killing Fields (2011), produced (in part) by director Mann’s father Michael Mann, and released by Anchor Bay Films. Chastain performed her first voice role in an animated feature as part of the ensemble of DreamWorks Animation’s hit sequel, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012), with the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Bryan Cranston, Martin Short and Frances McDormand under the co-direction of Eric Darnell (who co-write with Noah Baumbach), Conrad Vernon and Tom McGrath and released by Paramount Pictures to over four times estimated costs for a $747 million gross after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.
Jessica Chastain joined Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy under John Hillcoat’s direction in the Southern Gothic crime movie, Lawless (2012), adapted by writer/composer Nick Cave from Matt Bondurant’s novel, The Wettest County in the World, with Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke and Guy Pearce, produced (in part) by FilmNation Entertainment/Annapurna Pictures and distributed by The Weinstein Company after premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Chastain was a part of the ensemble of The Color of Time (2012), lead actor James Franco’s collectively made feature (directed and written in segments by Franco’s New York University film students), with Zach Braff, Bruce Campbell, Henry Hopper and Mila Kunis, and released by Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Chastain received her first Best Actress Oscar nomination as lead of director/producer Kathryn Bigelow’s and screenwriter/producer Mark Boal’s drama about the manhunt for Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty (2013), co-starring Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, James Gandolfini, Stephen Dillane, Harold Perrineau, Mark Duplass, Edgar Ramirez and Jeremy Strong, produced (in part) by Megan Ellison and grossing nearly $133 million (or nearly three times estimated costs) for Columbia Pictures-Sony, and nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Chastain was the name above the title in director/co-writer Andy Muschietti’s hit supernatural horror movie, Mama (2013), the English-language version of his 2008 Argentine short film, co-written/produced (in part) by Barbara Muschietti, with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Megan Charpentier, and grossing $148 million (or ten times estimated costs) for Universal Pictures (Worldwide)/Entertainment One (Canada).
Jessica Chastain was a co-producer and co-starred with James McAvoy in director/writer/producer Ned Benson’s three-feature movie saga (individually titled “Him,” “Her” and “Them”) titled The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2013-2014), with Nina Arianda, Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Ciaran Hinds, Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt, premiering in its individual parts at the 2013 Toronto and 2014 Cannes Film Festivals and released by The Weinstein Company. Chastain then starred as Miss Julie (2014) in director/writer Liv Ullmann’s English-language version of August Strindberg’s 1888 play, with Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton, and which was distributed by Wrekin Hill Entertainment (U.S.)/Columbia TriStar Nordisk Film Distributors A/S (Norway)/Pretty Pictures (France) after launching at the Toronto Film Festival.
Chastain joined director/co-writer/producer Christopher Nolan for his sci-fi drama, Interstellar (2014), co-written by Jonathan Nolan, produced (in part) by Emma Thomas and Lynda Obst, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn and Michael Caine, and grossing $774.7 million (an impressive four times estimated costs) for Paramount Pictures (U.S.)/Warner Bros. Pictures (International). Chastain co-starred with Oscar Isaac in director/writer/producer J.C. Chandor’s drama, A Most Violent Year (2014), with David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola and Albert Brooks and released by A24, and then Chastain played a major supporting role in director/producer Ridley Scott’s big-screen version of Andy Weir’s best-selling 2011 novel, The Martian (2015), written by Drew Goddard, starring Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and which was produced (in part) and distributed by 20th Century Fox to become Scott’s biggest-grossing movie (with a $630.6 million) and was nominated for seven Oscars (including Best Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay).
Jessica Chastain co-starred with Mia Wasikowska and Tom Hiddleston in director/co-writer/producer Guillermo del Toro’s Gothic horror movie, Crimson Peak (2015), co-written by Matthew Robbins, with Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver and Doug Jones, produced (in part) by Legendary Pictures, and released by Universal Pictures. Chastain was then in the cast of the fantasy adventure prequel and sequel, The Huntsmen: Winter’s War (2016), starring Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Liam Neeson, Nick Frost and Sam Clafin under Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s direction, produced by Joe Roth and distributed by Universal Pictures, and then Chastain was again the name above the title in the John Madden-directed political thriller, Miss Sloane (2016), with Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alison Pill, John Lithgow and Sam Waterston, co-produced with companies in the U.S., France, Canada and U.K., and released by EuropaCorp USA (U.S.)/EuropaCorp (France)/Entertainment One (U.K., Canada).
Chastain starred with Daniel Bruhl in the big-screen version of Diane Ackerman’s 2007 non-fiction book, The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017), with Johan Heldenbergh and Michael McElhatton under Niki Caro’s direction, and which was distributed by Focus Features (U.S.)/Universal Pictures (International), followed by Chastain co-starring with Idris Elba and Kevin Costner in director/writer Aaron Sorkin’s biopic based on Molly Bloom’s 2014 memoir, Molly’s Game (2017), produced (in part) by Mark Gordon and Amy Pascal, co-starring Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd, Bill Camp and Brian d’Arcy James, launching at the Toronto Film Festival before a release by STX Entertainment (U.S., China) and Sierra/Affinity (International). Chastain led the cast with Michael Greyeyes and Sam Rockwell under Susanna White’s direction in the biopic, Woman Walks Ahead (2017), and after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival received a limited release by A24, and then Chastain appeared on screen in director/producer Tom Donahue’s documentary, This Changes Everything (2018), released by Fathom Releasing after launching at the Toronto Film Festival.
Jessica Chastain joined the ensemble of director/writer/producer Simon Kinberg’s X-Men entry—twelfth in the series—Dark Phoenix (2019), co-starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan and Alexandra Shipp, produced (in part) by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment, and was a box-office bomb for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (based on estimated costs). Chastain played one of the adult characters in the second half of the two-part Andy Muschietti-directed and Gary Dauberman-written adaptation of Stephen King’s epic horror novel, It Chapter Two (2019), co-starring McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean and Bill Skarsgard (as Pennywise), produced (in part) by New Line Cinema and grossing $473 million (or nearly six times estimated costs) for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Chastain was star-producer (with her company, Freckle Films) of one of her first action thrillers, Ava (2020), co-starring Common, John Malkovich, Colin Farrell, Geena Davis, Ioan Gruffudd and Joan Chen under Tate Taylor’s direction, and which was distributed by Vertical Entertainment, followed by Chastain reuniting with co-star Ralph Fiennes in director/writer/producer John Michael McDonagh’s film version of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel, The Forgiven (2021), with Matt Smith, Ismael Kanater, Caleb Landry Jones, Marie-Josee Cruze, Said Taghmaoui and Christopher Abbott, launching at the Toronto Film Festival and distributed by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment (U.S., Canada)/Universal Pictures and Focus Features (International). Chastain was again star-producer and won her first Best Actress Oscar for her dazzling portrayal of Tammy Faye Bakker in the dramatized version of Fenton Bailey’s and Randy Barbato’s 2000 documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021), starring Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones and Vincent D’Onofrio under Michael Showalter’s direction, launching at the Toronto Film Festival and released by Searchlight Pictures.
Jessica Chastain continued as star-producer of director/co-writer/producer Simon Kinberg’s spy thriller, The 355 (2022), starring the all-female cast of Diane Kruger, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Fan Bingbing, Edgar Ramirez and Sebastian Stan, but proved a commercial bomb for Universal Pictures with a $27.8 million return (based on estimated costs), and then Chastain starred alongside Eddie Redmayne in the theatrical version of Charles Graebner’s true crime book about serial killer Charles Cullen, The Good Nurse (2022), with Nnamdi Asomugha, Kim Dickens and Noah Emmerich under Tobias Lindholm’s direction, produced (in part) by Darren Aronofsky, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival before a theatrical and streaming release by Netflix. Chastain co-starred with Peter Sarsgaard in director/writer/producer/co-editor Michel Franco’s dementia-themed drama, Memory (2023), with Merritt Wever, Elsie Fisher, Josh Charles and Jessica Harper, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival (where Sarsgaard won the Best Actor Volpi Cup), produced (in part) by Mubi and distributed by Ketchup Entertainment, and then Chastain shared name-above-the-title billing and was a lead producer with Anne Hathaway in director/cinematographer Benoit Delhomme’s English-language remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s 2018 French drama, Mothers’ Instinct (2024), with Josh Charles and Anders Danielsen Lie, and which was released by Neon.
Chastain reunited with director/writer/producer Michel Franco for his Mexico-U.S. co-production, Dreams/Suenos (2025), co-starring Isaac Hernandez and Rupert Friend, premiering in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, produced (in part) by Chastain’s Freckle Films, and released by Greenwich Entertainment (U.S.)/Imagem Films (Mexico), followed by Chastain starring in a double role in the Blumhouse Productions-produced supernatural horror movie, Other Mommy (2026), co-starring Arabella Olivia Clark, Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman and Karen Allen, and which was distributed wide by Universal Pictures. Chastain led the ensemble of director/writer Shana Feste’s mystery, Heartland (2026), with John Hawkes, Carter Faith and Garrett Hedlund, produced by Peter Chernin’s Chernin Entertainment and released theatrically and on streaming by Netflix, and then Chastain joined co-stars Chris Evans, Mikey Madison, Chris Pine, Don Cheadle and Charles Melton in director/writer Elijah Bynum’s Los Angeles-set crime movie, My Darling California (date to be announced), produced by Anton and 2AM, followed by Chastain playing Goneril in her second Shakespeare film, director/writer Bernard Rose’s adaptation,
Lear Rex (date to be announced), starring Al Pacino (as King Lear), Ariana DeBose, Rachel Brosnahan, LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, Ted Levine, Danny Huston, Matthew Jacobs, Rhys Coiro and Stephen Dorff, and produced by Barry Navidi and Mattias Westman.
Jessica Chastain Photos and Videos
Known For
A Most Violent Year
Anna Morales (2014)
Jessica Chastain Movies
Actor
Previous (27)
- 2026 |
- 2026 |
Other Mommy
asOther Mommy, Ursula
Bela, an 8-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity which comes out of her closet. The presence, whom she calls "Other Mommy," becomes increasingly threatening to her and her family.
- 2024 |
Mother's Instinct
Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life's perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.
- 2022 |
The Good Nurse
asAmy Loughren
An infamous caregiver is implicated in the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients.
- 2022 |
- 2022 |
Armageddon Time
asMaryanne Trump
A deeply personal coming-of-age story about the strength of family and the generational pursuit of the American Dream.
- 2021 |
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
asTammy Faye Bakker
An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.
- 2020 |
- 2019 |
It Chapter Two
asBeverly Marsh
Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
- 2019 |
This Changes Everything
asSelf
An investigative look and analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood, featuring accounts from well-known actors, executives and artists in the Industry.
- 2019 |
Dark Phoenix
asVuk
Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix, causing the X-Men to have to decide if her life is worth more than all of humanity.
- 2018 |
Woman Walks Ahead
asCatherine Weldon
Catherine Weldon, a portrait painter from 1890s Brooklyn, travels to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull and becomes embroiled in the Lakota peoples' struggle over the rights to their land.
- 2017 |
The Zookeeper's Wife
Keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Antonina and Jan Zabinski, must save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion in WWII Poland.
- 2017 |
Molly's Game
The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.
- 2016 |
The First Monday in May
asSelf (Cameo)
Follows the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's most attended fashion exhibition in history, "China: Through The Looking Glass," an exploration of Chinese-inspired Western fashions by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton.
- 2016 |
The Huntsman: Winter's War
asSara
Eric and fellow warrior Sara, raised as members of ice Queen Freya's army, try to conceal their forbidden love as they fight to survive the wicked intentions of both Freya and her sister Ravenna.
- 2016 |
Miss Sloane
asMadeline Elizabeth Sloane
In the high-stakes world of political power-brokers, Elizabeth Sloane is the most sought after and formidable lobbyist in D.C. But when taking on the most powerful opponent of her career, she finds winning may come at too high a price.
- 2015 |
Crimson Peak
asLucille Sharpe
A new bride investigates ghostly visions at a remote gothic mansion that holds dark secrets.
- 2015 |
The Martian
asMelissa Lewis
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
- 2014 |
Interstellar
asMurph
When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.
- 2013 |
- 2012 |
- 2012 |
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
asGia
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
The Madagascar animals join a struggling European circus to get back to New York, but find themselves being pursued by a psychotic animal-control officer.
- 2012 |
Zero Dark Thirty
asMaya
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
- 2011 |
- -- | as Ava
- -- | as Vuk
Producer
Previous (3)
- 2024 |
Mother's Instinct
Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life's perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.
- 2022 |
- 2021 |
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.
People Also Searched For
