Updated
02-05-12
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In late 2004, Chastain Central became aware of a relatively unknown actress with distinctive red hair named Jessica Chastain. She was at that time playing the part of Lee, the daughter of Rodney, in the play Rodney's Wife. It was her first professional New York stage appearance.
Since then, her acting career has exploded, and due to the release of her several backlogged movies, she has become a household name this year!
Jessica was raised in Northern California and attended high school there. She was born as Jessica M. Howard but adopted her mother's maiden name at least as early as high school. Jessica has told a number of interviewers about the event that planted in her the desire to be an actress when she was just a child, "My grandmother took me to see David Cassidy in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and I thought, I want to be up there." In later interviews, she shared more details, "We sat down and the play started and there was a girl of my age who opened this huge book and started narrating and I thought, 'This is a job. She gets to wear cool costumes and this is what I am going to do.' Ever since then I have always known I was going to be an actor." She performed in plays in school and won some trophies, such as the District Middle School Dance Competition.
Jessica became a vegan and influenced her mother to become vegan as well. In fact, her mother is now a vegan chef and caterer and is Jessica's number one fan. Jessica reported that "My poor mother is telling everyone she knows, 'Jessica is doing a movie with Brad Pitt, with Al Pacino', and everyone is looking at her two years later going, 'Sure, sure.'" Jessica's father is a fireman. She has two sisters and two brothers. One brother is in the army and currently serving in Iraq.
She was able to grant her younger brother a wish. She reported, "My 12-year-old brother came to stay while I was doing press for The Help. He really likes Emma Stone, so I asked her to go over and speak to him. She went over, and he absolutely clammed up, couldn't even look at her," she laughed to ASOS magazine. "There's a picture where she's smiling with her arm around him and he just looks like he's going to faint! It's my favourite."
Because her birth name was Howard, the question frequently arises whether she is the daughter of director Ron Howard. She is not. However, both Jessica and Ron Howard's real daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, are among the cast of the movie The Help. Interestingly, Jessica and Bryce Dallas Howard are both red-heads and bear a strong resemblance.
Jessica is close to her grandmother, who grew up in Kansas. Her grandmother is the one who took her to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as a child. She is also the one who flew with Jessica to Julliard for her audition. Jessica says her grandmother is the wild one in her family, and she encourages Jessica to be more showy and sensual in her acting. She was called 'Motorcycle Mama' by Jessica's elementary school classmates. When she learned that Jessica had been cast as Celia in The Help, her grandmother (a fan of the book) thought they had ruined the movie because Jessica was not a good match for Celia, but she was happy once she saw the film. She is also proud of the photo she had taken with Al Pacino at the Venice Film Festival. Jessica discusses her grandmother on Conan 
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Jessica's line of descent from French Huguenot immigrant Pierre Chastain (1700) has not yet been established.
Robert Kelley, who was the artistic director of TheatreWorks and in charge of a production of Romeo and Juliet in Mountain View, remembers Jessica in the role of Juliet when she was still a teenager. He told the San Francisco Chronicle, "She was beautiful, high-energy, charismatic, and she had a real joy about her. She was very good with the language. She was great for Juliet. The audience just completely fell in love with her; I guess everybody did. That was the effect she had on people. There was an exciting chemistry between her and the guy who played Romeo; it was unmistakable. Given her success in film and all that, I think the chemistry is something she brings with her anywhere she goes."
Upon arriving at Julliard, Jessica moved into the dorm with other first year students. She was awed by some of the people she saw at the school, such as Itzhak Perlman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Yo-Yo Ma. Ralph Fiennes came to speak to her class. While at Julliard, Jessica developed a love for Ibsen, Checkov, Strindberg, and many others to which she had not been previously exposed. And she was there in New York during the 9/11 attacks.
After graduation from Julliard in 2003 in her early twenties, Jessica moved back to the west coast to continue her journey as an actress. In her last year at Juilliard, Jessica was spotted in an acting showcase by John Wells, creator of The West Wing and ER. He signed her at once to a 12-month holding contract. A holding contract binds an actor to a network or producer for a certain period while they develop a role or show for her.
Julliard was not the end of Jessica's training. She mentions regularly that the directors she works for are also her teachers, and she specifically points to Al Pacino and Terrence Malick as being master teachers. Pacino taught her how to act differently for the camera than for the stage, and she told Flaunt Magazine that Malick was, "probably one of the greatest teachers I'll ever know. A great teacher for filmmaking, for acting, but also and mostly, a great teacher of what it is to be a great human being. I value him so much." She also likes Malick for his use of expressive silent film technique, which she was able to use in The Tree of Life; she is a fan of silent film artists Clara Bow and Charlie Chaplain.
Jessica lists among her dialects: Irish, Standard English, Southern, and Israeli. She also speaks some German. Among her other acting talents are a soprano singing voice, skills in scuba diving, bicycling, and the ability to wiggle her ears and nose! When violence is needed, she can bring out kickboxing, stage combat (unarmed, quarter staff, and rapier), and Krav Maga. Don't pick a fight with Jessica! She hopes for a role where she must learn to swim, as she can only move about almost like treading water.
Here are some quotes from Jessica describing the girl she is...
During 2011, the media began using a special designation to describe what kind of girl Jessica is--the IT girl! Another term often used in the latter part of the year was 'suddenly ubiquitous'. One writer commented that Jessica's "abruptly ubiquitous face left a lot of moviegoers feeling as if they had been living under a rock. Rising talents...usually have origin stories, but Chastain just sprang, fully formed, onto casting lists."
At the same time, Jessica, herself, tends to be a bit starstruck when meeting big stars. One expample was when she first met Meryl Streep. Jessica was in the lobby of a New York play she was starring in when she saw Meryl Streep. Meryl approached her to tell her how much she enjoyed the play and Jessica's performance, and Jessica, in a daze, held her hands and said, "Thank you, thank you. It means so much to me that you came," and then she just walked away. Jessica appreciates those actors, such as Brad Pitt, who do not make a big deal of being a celebrity. Among the stars she greatly admires and has worked with are Helen Mirren, Brad Pitt, Ralph Fiennes, and Al Pacino. However, her idol is Isabelle Huppert, who played in such films as The Piano Teacher and 8 Women, but though Jessica would love to work with her, Huppert does mostly French movies.
In her acting, Jessica is a professional. She enjoys playing a wide range of characters and genre. She is pleased that the release of her earlier films were delayed until she had the chance to play a number of roles to reduce the likelihood of being type-casted. She throws herself into every part by doing extensive research for each role and dissolving into the character. She commits to the character even if it means gaining weight or learning German. Jessica is alert to her directors and considers them to be her teachers. She likes interesting and complex roles and does not seem drawn to 'easy' ones. She has confidence in herself as an actor, but still feels like a newbie in the movie world.
Jessica is not pretentious about her success; in fact she anticipates a time when her movie fame will fade and she will return happily to a life of performing on stage. She is pleased with her success, but says, "I know this is all gonna go away. I'm not some naive 20-year-old trying to cling to this amazing year. Because a year like this... it's just not normal."
Fashion to me is not about 'this is the cool brand', or 'this is the best silhouette on me.' I like fashion where it tells stories each time. I love to show different sides of myself and that's why I love fashion. I love working with designers. It's not about the prettiest dress; it's about being interesting. 'What does this dress say?' Fashion to me is like a piece of music or a painting. I like it when it means something.
I love clothes; I love fashion. Clothes are very emotional to me and to have designers offer me dresses and beautiful things to wear makes that whole experience all the better. I try to not look the same all the time. I try to change my look a lot and play different roles. My job as an actor is to be a storyteller, so I think for a campaign it would be very exciting to work with a designer and a label to do something that was telling a story. Not just 'Jessica wearing a designer'.
New York Magazine stated, "Jessica Chastain, Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, and Berenice Bejo are thought to be the most sought-after actresses for labels dressing people for the Oscars." At one of her earliest appearances, Jessica Chastain wore a beautiful black Emilio Pucci dress to the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Costume Institute Gala. This was before her success at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, so she did not sign an exclusive on the style. Alexa Chung wore the same dress in November followed by at least two others, creating a number of comments; the dress looked considerably better on Jessica.
One of Jessica's biggest fashion moments was wearing the yellow Zac Posen dress at Cannes in 2011. It was fabulous; people are still talking about it! I am far from being a fashionista, but here are my favorites (okay, so I like hats!):
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One might say that Jessica is earth-friendly. In addition to being vegan in diet, she does not use leather, and she practices yoga. She told an interviewer, "The most important thing in my life, and the thing I try to focus on, is to try not to live a life of cruelty. That means trying to make sure I look people in the eye when I meet them. Sometimes you jump in a taxi, or maybe you only have two minutes with someone, and you never see them again. I try to always look them in the eye and have a real experience of what it is to communicate with someone...I guess 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."
Jessica still drives her older Prius.
She has two dogs (Radley, a corgi-spaniel cross, and Roman, a chihuahua mix), one of which is missing a leg. She loves to play scrabble. While filming Wettest County, she constantly played scrabble with Tom Hardy, and she says she always beat him. She is also sensitive; she once said, "I'm very sensitive in real life. I cannot not cry if someone around me is crying. I will start to cry if someone is crying, even if it's not appropriate."
In an interview at the 2011 Sundance Festival, Jessica called actress Jess Weixler her best friend. They were in the same graduating class at Julliard, and at the time of the interview they were roommates in California.
Another old acting buddy is Michelle Williams. She and Jessica were roommates at the Williamstown Theatre Festival when they performed in the play The Cherry Orchard in 2004. At that time, Jessica was essentially unknown and Michelle had been working in TV, movies, and plays for ten years. Throughout 2011, both were well represented in nominations and wins for their work for that year. It is reported that they squealed with delight when they saw each other at one event they both attended. Both are nominated for Oscars, but they are not competing against each other. Jessica is in the running for Supporting Actress (The Help), while Michelle is up for Best Actress (My Week with Marilyn). Both were also selected as presenters for the 2012 SAG Awards.
We look forward to learning more about Jessica, the person, as she continues her successful career.
At Julliard, Jessica performed in a number of productions:
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After Julliard, Jessica performed in a number of plays professionally:
Where Do We Live (April 2004, Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre). Playbill and another source announced Jessica's casting in this project, but on the third day of rehearsal she was called back to LA to shoot the pilot for Dark Shadows. Therefore, she was unable to appear in the play.
Madame Bovary (February 2006, Signature Theatre Company). Jessica was part of the cast in this reading, which was scheduled for two reading performances. It was directed by Estelle Parsons, who also directed Al Pacino and Jessica in Salome. The audience was by invitation only. Parsons said in an interview, "I know this Jessica Chastain, who's going to do Madame Bovary. She's so brilliant...I'm just in awe of her talent...This girl is so much more gifted than I am, it's not to be believed. She's incredible. So she's going to do my Madame Bovary at the Signature Theater."
with Al Pacino discussing the production, accompanied by scenes from Jessica's performance.
Othello (September 2009, New York University Skirball Center). Jessica plays Desdemona, Othello's wife, in this four-hour event. Other cast includes Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz. Director Peter Sellars gives this Shakespearean work a modern perspective, but his direction received many unflattering reviews such as NY Times and Reuters. However, there were favorable reviews as well here, here, and here. The play ran in Austria and Germany earlier in 2009 before opening in New York.
On Janury 5, 2012, Jessica was announced to be the lead character in the Broadway revival of The Heiress, directed by Moises Kaufman, to play in the fall of 2012. Though she is no stranger to the stage, this is Jessica's Broadway debut. She will play the role of Catherine Sloper.
The Heiress is based on Henry James' 1880 novel, Washington Square. It concerns the story of the plain-looking Catherine Stoper who is attracted to a young man, Morris Townsend, whom her wealthy, cold, and widowed New York father, Dr. August Sloper, suspects to be a fortune hunter. Catherine takes revenge on her overbearing father.
Written by Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman, and Stephanie P. McClellandwill; it will be directed by Moises Kaufman. Producer Paula Wagner said, "I was immediately struck by Jessica's talent and skill when I saw her on stage opposite Al Pacino in Salome. She is an actress with that rare ability to transition effortlessly between the stage and screen. Moises Kaufman had the vision to see Jessica as the perfect actress to play one of the great psychologically complex female characters." Tony and Emmy Award nominee Director Moises Kaufman stated, "Jessica Chastain is a great actress with chameleon-like prowess and enormous emotional intelligence; I think she's one of the best actresses of her generation. I'm thrilled to be working with her on The Heiress."
The Heiress premiered on Broadway premiere in 1947 at the Biltmore Theatre with Wendy Hiller as Catherine Sloper, Peter Cookson as Morris Townsend, and Basil Rathbone as Dr. Austin Sloper; it ran for 410 performances. The 1949 movie starred Olivia de Havilland as Catherine and Montgomery Clift as Morris. Olivia de Havilland won the Academy Award for Best Actress, with the film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
There have been three revivals of the 1947 play, the third of which was at the Lincoln Center Theater in 1995 starring Cherry Jones, Jon Tenney, and Philip Bosco. It ran for 340 performances. The production won four Tony Awards: Best Revival, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Featured Actress. Broadway.com reports, "Cherry Jones has given the upcoming production her stamp of approval. Jones, who portrayed Catherine Sloper in the 1995 revival of The Heiress and garnered a Tony Award for her performance, says she's 'so excited' to see the new mounting starring The Help's Jessica Chastain."
Other actresses playing the role of Catherine Sloper are Jane Alexander and Wendy Hiller.
clip. See full episode from Amazon for $1.99.
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For details of Jessica's films see Jessica Chastain Movies on Chastain Central
Here is a more extensive list of her films in order of American release date:
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Photos from the IMDb website.
Larger photo of Jessica after a serious vampire bite in Dark Shadows (scroll down to second photo on that page).
See thousands of photos of Jessica in dozens of categories. Nice site!
Jessica Chastain Movies
Jessica Chastain Career Milestones
Jessica Chastain in Magazines
Jessica Chastain News
Jessica Chastain Film Reviews
Jessica in The Tree of Life
