Jessica Chastain is one of the most compelling and versatile actresses of the current generation. She has a wide range as a dramatic performer and has won many accolades. Films such as Take Shelter, Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar, A Most Violent Year, Molly’s Game, George & Tommy, and Scenes from a Marriage show her portraying complex and layered characters will complete conviction and relatability. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as the famous American evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
Like many actors and actresses before her, Chastain graduated from Juilliard to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. The intense competition at the prestigious institute terrified Chastain and she had a tough time financially and psychologically in her initial days which led to her doubting he chances of achieving her dreams.
Jessica Chastain Struggled With Anxiety During The First Year at Juilliard
To pursue her dream as an actress in Hollywood, Jessica Chastain enrolled at Juilliard, which boasts many famous alumni including Adam Driver, Anthony Mackie, and Robin Williams to name a few. During her first year, she was terrified of the intense competition in the institution which led her parents to say, “What is going on here?”. At the same time, she was also trying to pay the required fees for her acting program. She told The Guardian,
“I got into Juilliard. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I was terrified by this idea that my whole family was paying for it and I could get cut from the programme, because they had a probation system. So, the first year, I was a wreck of anxiety. You have to relax because to speak you have to have a free jaw. But my jaw would just clench because I’d be so anxious. And then the more anxious you get about not relaxing – it just spirals.”
Her hard work and commitment paid off as she is now one of the most sought-after actresses in the industry. She has successfully climbed the way to success and now has the experience to guide young and aspiring actresses who want to take a shot at the profession.
Jessica Chastain Was Nervous to Promote Her New Film Amidst the Actors’ Strike
Jessica Chastain recently premiered her new film Memory at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. At the press conference of the film, Chastain revealed that she was initially hesitant to attend the festival amidst the strikes. But she came forward in support of her union and attended the premiere wearing a T-shirt that read “SAG-AFTRA ON STRIKE”. She said (via Deadline),
“Yes, I was incredibly nervous to be here today, and actually there are some people on my team who advised me against it. I’m very very lucky, I’m very aware of how lucky I am. It’s a wonderful profession that we get to do as actors and because of that we are quite often made to feel like we have to keep quiet in order to protect future working opportunities. We are often told and reminded how grateful we should be. That is the environment that I think has allowed workplace abuse to go unchecked for many decades and it’s also the environment that has saddled members of my union with unfair contracts.”
Memory, in which she stars alongside Peter Sarsgaard received positive reviews from critics and audiences who saw it at the festival. She will also star in the psychological thriller Mothers’ Instinct alongside Anne Hathaway.
Sources: The Guardian, Deadline
