Jessica Chastain by Liz O Baylen for Los Angeles Times

Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress. Chastain began her Hollywood career in guest-roles on several television shows, before making her feature film debut in Jolene (2008). In 2011, she gained wide public recognition for her starring roles in six film releases, including Take Shelter, The Tree of Life and The Help. Her performance as Celia Foote in the latter earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as nominations for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, and Critics' Choice. In 2012, she made her Broadway debut in The Heiress.

Chastain garnered critical acclaim in 2012 for her performance in Zero Dark Thirty, winning the Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama and receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. Other notable films include Christopher Nolan's Interstellar (2014) and A Most Violent Year (2014), for which she received her third Golden Globe and Critics' Choice nominations. Chastain's performances in Zero Dark Thirty and in the 2013 horror-fantasy film Mama led film critic Richard Roeper to describe her as "one of the finest actors of her generation".

In 2012, Time featured her as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".