Jessica Chastain - Biography

Jessica Chastain
American film and television actress biography

Birth Name: Jessica M Howard

Height

5' 4" (1.63 m)

Date of Birth

29 March 1981, California, USA

Jessica Howard was raised in Northern California. She discovered dance at the age of nine. By the age of 13, she was in a dance troupe. She took her mother's maiden name and began performing in Shakespearean productions all over the Bay area.

An actor in a production of Romeo & Juliet encouraged her to audition for Juilliard as a drama major. She became a member of Crew 32 with the help of a scholarship from Alumni Robin Williams.

Her last year at Juilliard she was offered a holding deal with John Wells. She worked in 3 of his TV shows. Jessica continues to do theatre. She played in The Cherry Orchard, Rodney's Wife, Salome, and Othello. She spends her time between New York and Los Angeles, working in theatre, film and TV.

Jessica Chastain attended The Juilliard School in New York City, where she was an active participant in the drama department and starred in several theatrical productions and student film projects.
Her first role came in 2004 for a TV movie adaptation of Dark Shadows. She later appeared in television series' such as ER, Veronica Mars, Close to Home, and Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

In 2008, she made her film debut as the title role in Jolene, for which she received the Seattle International Film Festival Award for Best Actress. In 2010 she portrayed a Mossad agent in John Madden's The Debt. She has a number of projects scheduled for release in 2011, such as Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, the psychological thriller The Fields.

She has also completed a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome alongside Al Pacino. She has also filmed supporting roles for other adaptations such as Coriolanus and The Help. Her next project will be John Hillcoat's prohibition era drama, The Wettest County in the World.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Jolene	Jolene	Seattle International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2009	Stolen Lives
2010	The Debt	Young Rachel Singer
2011	Take Shelter	Samantha LaForche	Completed
2011	The Tree of Life	Mrs O'Brien	Scheduled for 27 May 2011 US release
2011	Wilde Salome	Salome	Post-production
2011	Coriolanus	Virgilia	Post-production
2011	The Fields		Scheduled for 11 July 2011 US release
2011	The Help	Celia Foote	Scheduled for 12 August 2011 US release
2012	The Wettest County in the World	Maggie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Dark Shadows	Carolyn Stoddard	TV film
2004	ER	Dahlia Taslitz	Episode: "Forgive and Forget"
2004	Veronica Mars	Sarah Williams	Episode: "The Girl Next Door"
2005–2006	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Assistant District Attorney Sigrun Borg	4 episodes
2006	Close to Home	Casey Wirth	Episode: "The Rapist Next Door"
2006	The Evidence	Laura Green	Episode: "Pilot"
2006	Pirates: The True Story of Blackbeard	Charlotte Ormand	TV film
2007	Journeyman	Tanna Bloom	Episode: "Friendly Skies"
2010	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Mary Debenham	Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express"

Trivia

Attended The Juilliard School of Drama in New York and was in the graduating class of best friend Jess Weixler.

Personal Quotes

I was a difficult child because I wanted to be the mom.
I don't look modern. I'm not the girl that would walk into the room and everyone goes, "Oh!"