Trivia

Kathryn Bigelow decided to offer the lead role of Maya to her after seeing an early cut of Coriolanus (2011). Her agents originally declined the role of Maya for her in Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Producer Megan Ellison, who had worked with Chastain on Lawless (2012), gave Kathryn Bigelow Chastain's phone number so she could personally offer her the role. Chastain accepted.

Learned German and Krav Maga for The Debt (2010).

Was once roommates with Michelle Williams They were both nominated for Oscars in 2012 and have remained good friends.

Has expressed an interest in playing the Batman villain Poison Ivy in a film.

Before her film career, she toured in a stage production of "Othello" with Philip Seymour Hoffman.

One of two daughters of a musician Michael Monasertio and a vegan-chef with a food truck mother Jerri Renee Chastain. Jessica Michelle was the first member of her family to attend college.

Learned the piano for Crimson Peak (2015) and performed all songs in the movie by herself.

Was personally handpicked by Al Pacino to play opposite him as the title character of the play 'Salome'. Al Pacino later recommended her to Terrence Malick, who gave her an audition for The Tree of Life (2011).

Her idols are Isabelle Huppert, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, Emily Watson, Julianne Moore and Marion Cotillard.

For A Most Violent Year (2014), she thought that her character, Anna Morales, would only wear Armani and wrote to the fashion house to request that they lend their costumes to the film. They obliged, therefore every outfit that her character wears is vintage Armani from 1981.

Has permanently saved a voice mail from director Kathryn Bigelow in which she learned she had been chosen to play the role of Maya in Zero Dark Thirty (2012). The message came on November 21, 2011 at 1:04 p.m.

Christopher Nolan sent an assistant to Ireland, where she was filming Miss Julie (2014), with a script for Interstellar (2014) watermarked with Jessica Chastain's name. Jessica Chastain was not allowed to keep the script after she read it.

Owns a three-legged dog named Chaplin.

"Chastain" is her mother's maiden name.

(June 10, 2017) Married her boyfriend of five years Gian Luca Pasi De Preposulo in his home country. The wedding took place in the northern Italian city of Treviso at the Passi de Preposulo family estate Villa Tiepolo Passi, which is less than an hour north of Venice. The wedding was attended by long-time best friend and actress, Jess Weixler, Anne Hathaway and her husband Adam Shulman, Edgar Ramírez, Emily Blunt and many others.

Refuses to discuss her true age with the public. She considers acknowledging her true age as limiting her choices and offers of acting roles.

For her role in The Help (2011), she modeled her character and her high-pitched voice after the mother of author Kathryn Stockett and visited Sugar Ditch, Tennessee, in preparation for the role of Celia Foote.

Was originally cast in Iron Man 3 (2013) as Maya Hansen but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

During a July 2019 interview, Jessica Chastain said that she often gets mistaken for fellow actress Bryce Dallas Howard. Jessica Chastain told a story about a time when Jessica Chastain herself mistook a magazine photo of Howard for one of Jessica Chastain, and another story about a time when she (Jessica Chastain) saw Bryce's father, Ron Howard, in a store and he momentarily mistook her for his daughter.

She was estranged from her biological father, Michael Monasterio, all her life.

She was noticed at Juilliard by actress Marthe Keller, who recommended her to Al Pacino. He then cast her in the lead role of Salome in his play, "Salome", and his long-awaited epic movie of the same name, Salome (2013).

Her grandmother took her to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when she was just 7 years old, sparking the early acting bug in her. Her grandmother, Marilyn, was introduced to the world when she accompanied Jessica to the 2012 Academy Awards.

Based her performance of Annabel in Mama (2013) on Crystal Castles singer Alice Glass.

Holds the distinction of twice appearing in the top two films at the American box office in one weekend. This occurred on the weekend of 18-21 January 2013, when Zero Dark Thirty (2012) dropped to the number two position as her other film, Mama (2013), ascended to the top spot. This made Jessica Chastain the first woman in nearly 50 years to have the leading role in the top two films at the box office. This also occurred on the weekend of 2-4 September 2011, when The Help (2011) was the number one film in America, and another film starring Jessica Chastain, The Debt (2010), took the number two position, though her roles in these two films were supporting ones.

In order to gain weight for the role of Celia Foote in The Help (2011), she ate soy ice cream melted in the microwave.

Had a younger sister, Juliet Chastain (a.k.a. Juliet Christina Monasterio; December 13, 1978 - May 20, 2003), who committed suicide by gunshot.

She has appeared in four films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Tree of Life (2011), The Help (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and The Martian (2015).

She filmed A Most Violent Year (2014), and had to fly back and forth to New York to play an American, in detail, a gangster's daughter in the 80s, while she was playing an early 20th century English Victorian woman in Crimson Peak (2015), a huge difference and versatility.

Ralph Fiennes is her favorite actor.

Is a fan of Marion Cotillard and has publicly expressed her desire to work with her.

Attended the drama division of The Juilliard School in New York City and was in the graduating class of her best friend, Jess Weixler.

Has worked with James McAvoy in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby trilogy, Dark Phoenix and It: Chapter Two. During an interview while promoting It: Chapter Two, James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain said they'd like to work together again and become a memorable cinema pairing.

Completed work on The Color of Time (2012) in one day.

Jessica Chastain's paternal grandfather was of Basque and Castilian/Spanish descent. The rest of her ancestry is one eighth Greek, as well as English, German, French, Dutch, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish. Two of Jessica Chastain's paternal great-grandparents, Antonio Astoreca Monasterio and Ramona Egurrola Basañez, were emigrants from Spain (of Basque and Castilian ancestry). One of her paternal great-grandfathers, Ernest John Thomas (originally "Anastaciou"), was Greek.

Director Guillermo del Toro gave her the script for Crimson Peak (2015) after working with her on Mama (2013) and thought she would play the lead role, Edith. After reading the script, Jessica Chastain asked to play the character of Lucille, which she thought as more interesting and challenging which del Toro agreed to.

Changed her published birthdate from March 24, 1977 to March 29, 1981 in order to conceal her actual age. The media found out she was lying in 2012.

Mother, with husband Gian Luca Pasi De Preposulo, of daughter Giulietta Chastain Passi di Prepossulo dei Conti Passi di Prepossulo (b. April 4, 2018, through surrogacy) and second child (b. 2020).

Interviewed Marion Cotillard for Elle's Women In Hollywood issue. (2013).

Purchased a Greenwich Village co-op apt. for $1.2 million to live in while on Broadway during the run of "The Heiress". (2012).

The Sopranos (1999) is her favorite TV show.

After Javier Bardem left A Most Violent Year (2014) she wrote director J.C. Chandor an impassioned three page letter asking him to consider Oscar Isaac for the lead role. Chandor replied back almost immediately with an email saying he was already considering Isaac.

Has starred alongside Jason Clarke in 3 movies: Texas Killing Fields (2011), Lawless (2012) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012).

Was originally cast in Diana (2013) as Princess Diana but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

Celebrated her birthday, while filming Crimson Peak (2015) in Toronto and invited a few close friends to her party, among the guests was Tom Hiddleston, with whom she did "ping-pong matches, crazy dancing, and karaoke", as both revealed in an interview.

Is a vegan and was named PETA's 2012 sexiest vegetarian (June 28, 2012).

Contessa Passi di Prepossulo by marriage, a title of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, then of the (Bonapartist) Kingdom of Italy, then of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and finally of the Kingdom of Italy.

Some of her favorite classic actresses are Clara Bow, Greta Garbo and Greer Garson.

"The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright and "Osama Bin Laden" by Michael Scheuer are two of the many books she researched in preparation for her role as CIA operative Maya in Zero Dark Thirty (2012).

Ned Benson wrote the part of Eleanor Rigby specifically for her.

Jessica Chastain was granted a scholarship by Robin Williams that allowed her to attend Juilliard. Making her the first member of her family to graduate from college.