From poverty and bullying to the Oscars – the actress who refused to break
The star also credits Planned Parenthood and access to birth control for giving her options. “It had a great impact on my life because it gave me choice,” she said.
”I am the first one in my family to go to college and I felt a great responsibility… It was very expensive. The first two years it was really tough on us,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Robin Williams saved her
Her path changed thanks to Robin Williams. The legendary actor, a Juilliard alum, awarded her a scholarship that covered tuition, books, her apartment, and even flights home for Christmas.
”It was after my second year I found I got that scholarship… It paid for not only all my schoolwork, but it paid for my apartment, and my books, and my flight home to see my family for Christmas,” she recalled.
Though she never met him before his passing in 2014, she sent him countless letters of thanks.
After honing her craft at Juilliard, she began her career on stage and television. Her film debut came at age 31 with the drama Jolene, but it was 2011 that marked her breakout year, with six films released, including Take Shelter and The Tree of Life.
Her performances that year earned critical acclaim, leading to Academy Award nominations for portraying an ambitious socialite in The Help and a determined CIA analyst in Zero Dark Thirty.
Her most famous role
Suddenly, the relatively unknown actress found herself right in the heart of Hollywood’s hustle and bustle.
The Help was a huge success, grossing $216 million at the box office and becoming her most widely seen film to that point.
But most people probably remember her for her role in Interstellar (2014), which brought her recognition with audiences around the world. With a budget of $165 million, the high-profile film, co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, was shot primarily using IMAX cameras.
She played the adult daughter of McConaughey’s character and was drawn to the project by the emotional depth of the father-daughter relationship. Interstellar went on to gross over $701 million worldwide, making it her highest-grossing live-action film to date.
Strong feminist themes
And now you might be starting to guess who our star is… yes, it’s Jessica Chastain!
The American actress and producer has gained a reputation for choosing roles and projects with strong feminist themes. That approach has helped her escape being typecast as just a sex symbol, giving her the freedom to explore a wide range of roles across different films.
”The part I played in Interstellar, for example, was originally written for a man,” she told The Telegraph. “Chris Nolan decided to make it about a father and daughter instead.”
She’s also aware that this flexibility isn’t universal — some roles demand a certain image. ”Of course if you need a sex object then that’s different,” she added.
Today, Jessica Chastain is considered one of the most respected performers in the industry. Speaking about her off-screen persona, Roy Porter of InStyle magazine wrote in 2015 that ”she’s an adult, which isn’t always a given in Hollywood. Unconsciously candid with her answers, she retains a sense of perspective uncommon among her peers, and has real opinions.” Porter also praised her as one of the rare actresses who is ”all about the craft.”
Marrying in Italy
Time magazine named Jessica Chastain as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012. More recently, in 2021, she portrayed Tammy Faye Bakker in the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a role that earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
As per 2025, Chastain is a mother of two with husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, a fashion executive. The two tied the knot in June 2017, according to Vogue. Their wedding in Italy was a star-studded affair, with big names like Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway in attendance.
”He’s a gentleman,” she revealed in an interview with W magazine. ”And that’s very important to me.”
Today, the couple lives in New York City, but Chastain remains private about her personal life and chooses not to attend red carpet events with a partner.
However, in recent years, Chastain has been vocal about mental health issues, as well as gender and racial equality.
Reflecting on her approach to Hollywood, the Oscar winning actress says: “It makes me sick to even say this, but I never think in terms of ‘How do I get more things in this industry?’ I have a rebellious streak because I grew up with a lot of resentment, because we didn’t have things, like even food.”
“There were people that saw I was struggling as a kid and they helped me. And that’s why I ended up where I am now,” she reiterated.
“I don’t talk about it much, but it was really, it was not what you would expect,” she continued. “So because I come from that place, I know what it’s like. And it makes me angry. And I don’t [want] anyone else to be denied anything. In terms of a voice, being seen, being acknowledged and valued.”
