The Untold Truth Of Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain may have gotten a somewhat late start in Hollywood –- bursting out in her mid-30s in an industry that praises youthfulness –- but she's more than made up for any lost time. Since 2010, the actress has racked up more than 30 credits, most of them feature-length films. These include her Oscar-nominated performances in "The Help" and "Zero Dark Thirty," her Oscar-winning role in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," and acclaimed headlining roles in films like "Miss Sloane" and "Molly's Game" — both of which earned her Golden Globe nominations.

In other words, whether she's battling evil clowns, trying to help Matthew McConaughey save humanity, or playing big-haired evangelists, Chastain is always bringing her A-game. Of course, with a star as talented and beloved as this red-headed actress, there's a whole lot you might not know about her rise to fame, movie-making decisions, and behind-the-scenes struggles. So if you want to learn more about this highly respected and prolific star, keep on reading for the untold truth of Jessica Chastain. 

When Chastain's grandmother took her, at the age of 7, to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," it sparked an interest in acting for which all her fans should be very thankful. It was seeing another little girl up on stage that pushed Chastain toward drama. "She was playing make-believe for a living. That was her job. It just seemed like the most wonderful thing," she told Town & Country. It's a story that Chastain has repeated in many interviews, so it seems to be embedded in her mind as the official start of her acting bug. "That's what helped me find my way of life," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Once she realized she wanted to act, young Chastain formed her own little neighborhood theater company. She and her fellow budding thespians sold lemonade and cookies in order to buy props for the stage. "It was such an outlet for me," she told NPR.

Chastain is deeply committed to ensuring the choices she makes for her characters are the best possible ones. For example, as Celia Foote in "The Help," the vegan actress had to carry a chicken upside down in a scene where the chicken is going to be killed –- something that she struggled with but ultimately chose to do because she felt Celia would carry her own chicken. But perhaps the biggest choice that Chastain made in relation to Celia was the voice she used, which was both distinctive and also rather different from Chastain's real-life voice.

When she auditioned for the part, Chastain told Variety that she used a deep voice similar to the one she used in the 2008 movie "Jolene." But after meeting a woman at a fundraiser –- who happened to be the mother of the woman who wrote the book "The Help" is based on – Chastain completely revamped the voice, which she felt went better with Celia's Marilyn Monroe-inspired vibe (Chastain also gained weight and dyed her hair blonde for the role). As she told The Hollywood Reporter, "We were at this party right before we started shooting, and I looked over, and I saw this amazing woman with ... bright, white blonde hair that was up on top of her head, very curvaceous in a very formfitting dress, and she was squeaking between the couch and the wall, and I turned to someone, I was like, 'That is how Celia Foote moves.'" 

So, she recorded the woman and convinced the director to let her pitch up Celia's voice –- clearly the right choice, given her Oscar nomination for the role.

"The Help" may have put Jessica Chastain's career on the map, but it was "Zero Dark Thirty" that solidified the actor as one of the greats of her generation. For her performance in the film, Chastain earned a Golden Globe Award, Best Actress honors from the National Board of Review, and a slew of other critics awards. She also received an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA nomination, and a Screen Actor's Guild nomination (all the biggies). Fascinatingly, Chastain almost did not take on the role of CIA intelligence analyst Maya Harris.

That isn't to say that Chastain wasn't interested in the part from the get-go –- director Kathryn Bigelow cold-called her about the role –- only that scheduling nearly made it impossible to film "Zero Dark Thirty." In fact, Chastain accepted the part before even reading the screenplay despite being contractually obligated to another movie. That movie was the 2013 thriller "Oblivion," starring Tom Cruise, and lucky for all, he was a good sport about it. "When ['Zero Dark Thirty'] came my way, I realized I had to do this. And the person who made it possible for me to do this movie is Tom Cruise," Chastain told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "Someone contacted him from my agency and said, 'Listen, she wants to work with you. And she would love to, but there is this other film, and it's so important.' And he said, 'Okay, we're going to let you out of your contract.'"

Nowadays, many big-name actors have their own production companies, from Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment to Leonardo di Caprio's Appian Way Productions. So, it really isn't a surprise that an actor with Chastain's credentials would also want to get into the production side of things. She founded Freckle Films back in 2016, and it's through Freckle Films that she's producing many of her newer movies, including "The Eyes of Tammy Faye."

Freckle Films is notable not just for Chastain but also because of its commitment to moving the needle of equality in Hollywood. "We're working to develop projects for women about women and hire more female writers and directors and also minorities who haven't had the opportunity to tell their stories," Chastain told W magazine. "That's very important to me." Impressively -– and uniquely –- the company boasts an all-female executive team.

Chastain has received rave reviews for "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," her movie about the life of Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker). Many may be surprised to know that the film was a passion project for the actress and that she pushed for it's development for almost a decade. After watching the documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" in 2012, Chastain became fascinated with Messner's story. "People were more interested in how much mascara Tammy Faye Bakker was wearing than what she was actually saying," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

After purchasing the film rights to the documentary, Chastain started pitching the film to executives at Searchlight Pictures. Her investment in the biopic added an extra layer of pressure, which resulted in increased nerves. "There were so many parts of making this movie that terrified me. On the first day of shooting, I started shaking before the first take. That's never happened to me on a movie, and it was so embarrassing," she confessed in an interview with DuJour magazine. "But I thought, If I'm going to throw myself off this cliff, I'm going to jump off the deep end. People might really make fun of me. But Tammy Faye probably thought that every day, and she did it anyway."

In addition to her acting in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," many have made note of Chastain's singing in the film. According to an article in Variety, Chastain does her own performing in the film, and pre-recorded seven gospel tracks with music producer David Cobb prior to shooting. Luckily, the actress is rather musical by nature –- she likes to sing, and she plays at least two instruments, the guitar and the ukulele.

Even though Chastain has natural musical abilities, she was nervous to show off her vocal chops on screen. "The day I went to do it, I tweeted something like, 'I am living off of bourbon and Throat Coat.' Because I was so scared. I actually drank Throat Coat tea with whiskey while I was doing the singing," she told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm not hardcore like that! But I was like, there's no way that I can be this nervous, and that was my get-ya-through-it recipe."

While Jessica Chastain rarely discusses her family, she does occasionally mention her in-laws, who she says don't understand her veganism. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel. Chastain once joked that her in-laws hate her for not eating meat. "In the beginning, I would say I'm vegan. Which is like the worst thing," she told Kimmel. "I don't eat 10 meals, and I'm vegan. I would say, 'I'm sorry I can't eat that,' and [my mother-in-law] would say, 'No problem, we have fish'."

Despite family concerns about her diet, veganism is a key part of Chastain's life and has been for years. She's been vegan for over a decade despite having previously been a big fan of cheese and shellfish. Chastain told W magazine that she first cut out shellfish because of high cholesterol, and eventually, she experimented with vegan because a friend gifted her with a two-week delivery program. "Being vegan was not anything I ever wanted to be. I just really was listening to what my body was telling me," she said, noting that it's improved her energy, as well as her skin.

While she's extremely committed to her characters, Chastain won't even eat meat for a role -– she ate fake chicken for her famous scene in "The Help." But that doesn't mean that she has a boring diet, as the actress is a big fan of cooking her own vegan dishes. "I went to the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York in 2012 and took the intensive chef-training program," she told Shape magazine. "In the winter, I like to make soups and stews and anything roasted."