Getting to know Jessica Chastain
The in-demand actress chats about her shyness and dislike of stereotypes
FAMOUS FAIRY GODFATHER She fell in love with acting after her grandmother took her to see a play when she was six, but her small-town childhood was far removed from Hollywood’s glamour. “I didn’t grow up with a lot of money, and we were evicted a couple times when I was a child,” Jessica (40) recalls. “I decided to become an actor because I grew up without money – so I knew I could live without money!” After cutting her teeth on school plays she landed an audition to attend exclusive New York arts college The Juilliard School, but although she was accepted her parents couldn’t afford the tuition. She was able to enrol thanks to a scholarship from late actor and comedian Robin Williams.
STILL SHY
After bit parts on TV shows such as ER and Law & Order, Jessica started landing movie roles and had a bumper year in 2011 when she starred in six releases.
Her career has since sky-rocketed but she recently revealed she hasn’t overcome the shyness and anxiety that plagued her as a child. “It’s a strange thing. Acting for me has never been about wanting attention or wanting to be seen. I never wanted to be a movie star; I wanted to be an actor.”
At first she used acting to deal with her shyness. “[Acting] is about connecting with another person and the intimacy of what that is, and so I have to overcome my shyness.”
SUCCESS IN PERSPECTIVE
The Interstellar star was days away from graduating from Juilliard when she got the news that her 24-year-old sister, Juliet, had committed suicide after struggling with drug addiction for years.
“It completely changed the person I am.” Juliet’s death, and those of Philip Seymour Hoffman – her co-star in a stage production of Othello – and Robin Williams, inspired her to campaign for those struggling with depression and addiction.
NO STEREOTYPES, PLEASE
Her latest film, The Zookeeper’s Wife, tells the story of Antonina Żabińska, a Polish woman who, along with her husband Jan, hid Jews from the Nazis during World War 2 by providing shelter in their zoo.
She’s no stranger to playing the heroine in films – in Zero Dark Thirty her character was part of the operation to track down Osama Bin Laden, and in The Martian she led a team to rescue a fellow astronaut stranded on Mars.
“In most movies women are either the girlfriend – incredibly beautiful but not much going on – or the victim, like the weird neighbour. It’s like the two ideas of women that are talked about: the wife or the slut.”
She’s an advocate for gender equality. “I want to see women portrayed like the ones I know – intelligent and strong and vulnerable. I’m not interested in playing a stereotype.”