American actress Jessica Chastain studied at the Juilliard School, where she was signed for a talent holding deal by the television producer John Wells. [1] From 2004 to 2010, she had guest roles in television shows, including ER , Veronica Mars , and Law & Order: Trial by Jury . [1] [2] She also appeared in stage productions with Michelle Williams for The Cherry Orchard in 2004, and with Al Pacino for Salome in 2006. [2] In 2008, Chastain played the title character in her film debut Jolene . [3] She had a minor role in Stolen (2009), a critically panned mystery-thriller, following which she played the younger version of Helen Mirren's character in the action thriller film The Debt (2010). [4] [5]
The year 2011 proved a breakthrough for Chastain. [6] Among her six film releases that year, she starred with Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life , an experimental drama from Terrence Malick, and portrayed an aspiring socialite in 1960s America in the drama The Help . [7] For the latter, Chastain received her first Academy Award nomination, in the supporting actress category. [8] In 2012, she voiced Gia in the $747 million-grossing animated film Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted . [9] She also played a CIA analyst in Kathryn Bigelow's thriller Zero Dark Thirty —a partly fictionalized account of the manhunt for Osama bin Laden —which garnered her a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress. [10] Also in 2012, Chastain made her Broadway debut in a revival of The Heiress , playing a naive young girl who becomes a powerful woman. [11]
In 2013, Chastain starred in the horror film Mama , and played an unhappily married woman in Ned Benson's three-part drama film, collectively titled The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby . [12] Chastain's biggest live-action commercial successes came in the next two years with the science fiction films Interstellar (2014) and The Martian (2015), both of which grossed over $600 million worldwide. [13] In the former, directed by Christopher Nolan, she played a scientist, and in the latter, directed by Ridley Scott, she played an astronaut alongside Matt Damon. [14] [15] Chastain went on to play strong-willed titular protagonists in the political thriller Miss Sloane (2016), the historical drama The Zookeeper's Wife (2017), and the crime film Molly's Game (2017). [16] In 2019, Chastain played the adult Beverly Marsh in the horror sequel It Chapter Two . [17] In 2021, she starred in the HBO miniseries Scenes from a Marriage , and produced and starred as the televangelist Tammy Faye in the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye . [18] [19] For the latter, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. [20] Chastain received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for starring in a 2023 Broadway revival of A Doll's House . [21]
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Jolene | Jolene | [22] | |
| 2009 | Stolen | Sally Ann | Also known as Stolen Lives [a] | [4] [23] |
| 2010 | The Westerner | Daniel's mother | Short film; also co-producer | [24] |
| The Debt | Rachel Singer (young) | [5] | ||
| 2011 | Take Shelter | Samantha LaForche | [25] | |
| Coriolanus | Virgilia | [26] | ||
| The Tree of Life | Mrs. O'Brien | [27] | ||
| The Help | Celia Foote | [7] | ||
| Wilde Salomé [b] | Salome | Documentary film | [29] | |
| Texas Killing Fields | Detective Pam Stall | [30] | ||
| 2012 | Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted | Gia | Voice | [31] |
| Lawless | Maggie Beauford | [32] | ||
| The Color of Time | Mrs. Williams | Also known as Tar [c] | [33] [34] | |
| Zero Dark Thirty | Maya Harris | [35] | ||
| 2013 | Mama | Annabel | [36] | |
| The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby [d] | Eleanor Rigby | Also co-producer | [37] [38] | |
| 2014 | Miss Julie | Miss Julie | [39] | |
| Interstellar | Murphy "Murph" Cooper (adult) | [40] | ||
| A Most Violent Year | Anna Morales | [41] | ||
| 2015 | Unity | Narrator | Documentary film | [42] [43] |
| The Martian | Melissa Lewis | [15] [44] | ||
| Crimson Peak | Lucille Sharpe | [45] | ||
| 2016 | The Huntsman: Winter's War | Sara | [46] | |
| Miss Sloane | Elizabeth Sloane | [47] | ||
| 2017 | I Am Jane Doe | Narrator | Documentary film; also executive producer | [48] |
| The Zookeeper's Wife | Antonina Żabińska | Also executive producer | [49] [50] | |
| Molly's Game | Molly Bloom | [51] | ||
| Woman Walks Ahead | Caroline Weldon | [52] | ||
| 2018 | This Changes Everything | Herself | Documentary film | [53] |
| 2019 | Dark Phoenix | Vuk / Margaret | [54] | |
| It Chapter Two | Beverly Marsh (adult) | [17] | ||
| 2020 | Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy | Herself | Documentary film; also executive producer | [55] |
| Ava | Ava Faulkner | Also producer | [56] | |
| 2021 | The Sands Between | Woman | Short film | |
| The Forgiven | Jo Henninger | [57] | ||
| The Eyes of Tammy Faye | Tammy Faye | Also producer | [58] | |
| 2022 | The 355 | Mason "Mace" Brown | [59] | |
| Armageddon Time | Maryanne Trump | Cameo | [60] | |
| The Good Nurse | Amy Loughren | [61] | ||
| 2023 | Memory | Sylvia | [62] | |
| 2024 | Mothers' Instinct | Alice Bradford | Also producer | [63] |
| 2025 | Dreams | Jennifer McCarthy | Also executive producer | [64] |
| 2026 | Other Mommy | TBA | Post-production | [65] |
| † | Denotes series that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Dark Shadows | Carolyn Stoddard | Pilot episode [e] | [66] |
| ER | Dahlia Taslitz | Episode: "Forgive and Forget" | [67] | |
| Veronica Mars | Sarah Williams | Episode: "The Girl Next Door" | [68] | |
| 2005–2006 | Law & Order: Trial by Jury | ADA Sigrun Borg | 3 episodes | [69] |
| 2006 | Close to Home | Casey Wirth | Episode: "The Rapist Next Door" | [70] |
| The Evidence | Laura Green | Episode: "Pilot" | [71] | |
| Blackbeard | Charlotte Ormand | Miniseries | [72] | |
| 2007 | 'Til Death | Hostess | Episode: "The Italian Affair" | [73] |
| Journeyman | Tanna Bloom | Episode: "Friendly Skies" | [74] | |
| 2010 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Mary Debenham | Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express" | [75] |
| 2016 | Animals. | Sarah | Voice; episode: "Turkeys" | [76] [77] |
| 2018 | Saturday Night Live | Herself | Episode: "Jessica Chastain / Troye Sivan" | [78] |
| 2021 | Scenes from a Marriage | Mira Phillips | Miniseries; lead role and executive producer | [79] |
| 2022 | Reframed: Marilyn Monroe | Narrator | Documentary miniseries | [80] |
| 2022–2023 | George & Tammy | Tammy Wynette | Miniseries; lead role and executive producer | [81] |
| 2025 | The Savant † | Jodi Goodwin | [82] |
| Year | Production | Role | Venue | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Romeo and Juliet | Juliet Capulet | Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts | [83] |
| 2004 | The Cherry Orchard | Anya | Williamstown Theatre Festival | [84] |
| 2004 | Rodney's Wife | Lee | Playwrights Horizons | [85] |
| 2006 | Salome | Salome | Wadsworth Theatre | [86] |
| 2009 | Othello | Desdemona | The Public Theater | [87] |
| 2012 | The Heiress | Catherine Sloper | Walter Kerr Theatre | [88] |
| 2017 | The Children's Monologues | 13-year-old girl | Carnegie Hall | [89] |
| 2023 | A Doll's House | Nora Helmer | Hudson Theatre | [90] |
| Year | Title | Performer(s) | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | "Family Feud" | Jay-Z (featuring Beyoncé) | 4:44 | [91] |
| Year | Title | Role | Platform | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The Space Within | Dr. Madeline Wyle | Audible | Also executive producer | [92] |
| Year | Title | Role | Release | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Spheres: Songs of Spacetime | Narrator | Oculus Rift | Also executive producer | [93] |
| Year | Title | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | "Battle Hymn of the Republic" | The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | [94] |
| "Jesus Keeps Takin' Me Higher & Higher" | |||
| "The Sun Will Shine Again" | |||
| "Somebody Touched Me" | |||
| "We are Blest" | |||
| "Don't Give Up (On the Brink of a Miracle)" | |||
| "Puppet Medley (Give a Hug, Jesus Loves Me, Up with a Giggle)" | |||
| 2022 | "The Race is On" | George & Tammy (Original Series Soundtrack) | [94] |
| "White Lightning" | |||
| "Apartment No. 9" | |||
| "Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad" | |||
| "Why Baby Why" | |||
| "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" | |||
| "A Girl I Used to Know" | |||
| "Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby's Arms" | |||
| "Stand By Your Man" | |||
| "Take Me" | |||
| "I Don’t Wanna Play House" | |||
| "Beneath Still Waters" | |||
| "Something to Brag About" | |||
| "We’re Gonna Hold On" | |||
| "Run, Woman, Run" | |||
| "The Grand Tour" | |||
| "‘Til I Get It Right" | |||
| "We Go Together" | |||
| "You and Me" | |||
| "Two Story House" | |||
| "The Door" | |||
| "He Stopped Loving Her Today" | |||
| "Golden Ring" | |||
| "Help Me Make It Through The Night" | |||
| "Lost Highway" |