JESSICA CHASTAIN
Date of Birth: March 29, 1981
Born Jessica Howard, Jessica Chastain is originally from Northern California. She began taking dance lessons at the age of nine and by age 13, had been chosen as a member of a dance troupe. At that time, she also began appearing in local plays. Jessica graduated from The Juilliard School in New York City as a drama major.
In 2004, she made her TV debut in the movie Dark Shadows, playing Dahlia Taslitz. Guest appearances on TV shows such as ER, Veronica Mars and Close to Home followed, as well as a recurring role on Law & Order: Trial By Jury.
In 2008, Jessica made her film debut as the title role in the indie project Jolene opposite Dermot Mulroney, for which she won a Best Actress award at the Seattle Film Festival. Her first major motion picture was John Madden's The Debt (2010), starring Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington, followed by Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt. She also starred in the widely-acclaimed film The Help (2011), a role for which she received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Some of her other films include the Shakespeare story Coriolanus (2012) and Tar (2012) alongside Mila Kunis, James Franco, and Michelle Williams.
Jessica continues to do theater as well as film and television, and divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.