Jessica Michelle Chastain -American actress

Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress. Chastain played guest roles in several television shows before making her feature film debut in the 2008 independent film Jolene. In 2011, she gained wide public recognition for her starring roles in seven film releases; her performance in The Help was particularly well received and she earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination, as well as Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA nominations in the same category. For her lead performance in the controversial 2012 military thriller film Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain received wide critical acclaim and won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

In 2012, Time magazine featured her as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". Chastain's performances in Zero Dark Thirty and in the 2013 horror film Mama led film critic Richard Roeper to describe her as "one of the finest actors of her generation".

Chastain was born in Sacramento, California. She was raised by her mother, Jerri, a vegan chef, and her stepfather, a fireman. Chastain has two brothers and two sisters. She is close to her grandmother Marilyn, who attended the Oscars with her in 2012 and 2013.

She graduated from El Camino High School in Sacramento in 1995 and attended Sacramento City College, where she was a member of the debate team (1996–1997). In 1998, she appeared as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet staged by Theatre Works, a professional theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chastain then attended the Juilliard School in New York City as a member of the Drama Division's Group 32 (1999–2003), which also included Michael Urie and Jess Weixler. The funding which made it possible for her to attend was provided through a scholarship by Robin Williams. She was an active participant in the drama department and starred in several theatrical productions and student film projects. She graduated from Juilliard with a B.F.A. degree in 2003.

n 2013, it was announced that Chastain would play the female lead and title character in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby with James McAvoy. The film is about a two-part drama told from his and hers perspectives, set to hit theaters in 2013. She will also play the lead and title role in Miss Julie, a film adaptation of August Strindberg's play, being directed by Liv Ullmann. She will star in the feature film adaptation of The Zookeeper's Wife, directed by Niki Caro. Chastain will appear with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway inInterstellar, the next film to be directed by Christopher Nolan.