Top 3: Chastain has excelled in overlooked roles

Gwen Gordon, Entertainment Editor

October 6, 2025

Chastain has been overlooked as an actress, despite numerous groundbreaking works. Jessica Chastain by Georges Biard is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .

Academy Award Winner Jessica Chastain is phenomenal in her roles because of her intense preparation and willingness to play roles that are often overlooked.

Having an interest in acting since childhood, she went to the Juilliard School and continued in small roles after. Her debut was in Jolene (2008), but her breakthrough came in 2011 with roles in Tree of Life and Take Shelter.

Since then, she has performed in a large number and variety of roles, leading her to be nominated for BAFTA and Oscar nominations and winning an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

Here is a look at some of her best roles.

Top 3: Chastain has excelled in overlooked roles

Chastain plays the role of Celia Foote, an outsider among other housewives. Photo via Dreamworks Pictures.

The Help (2011)

The Help is about telling the stories and experiences of Black maids in the 1960s in Jacksonville, Mississippi.

Chastain plays the role of Celia Foote, who desperately wants to fit in with the upper-class housewives but doesn't quite fit the mold. The housewives judge her character because she married one of the women's ex-boyfriends. Even though the ladies look down on her, she remains kind and hopeful towards everyone, especially the maids.

Her character stands out because of the way Chastain portrays her role; she stands out from the other wives because she's not judgmental like the others. Compared to the other wives, she is a breath of fresh air for the main characters. She also has a very accurate Southern accent.

Chastain really stands out with her portrayal of infertility. Though her character is bubbly and vivacious, in private she deals with multiple miscarriages. She does an excellent job of showing the real, raw emotions that come with being infertile.
Chastain’s complex role as Alice demonstrates her ability to depict the character’s downfall. Photo via Freckle Films.

Mothers’ Instinct (2024)

Mothers' Instinct is set in the 1960s, with two best friends who had been raising their sons together when one of their sons dies in a tragic accident. Celine (Anne Hathaway) loses her son and blames her best friend, Alice (Chastain), for his death because she couldn't stop him in time from jumping from the balcony.

Alice feels immense guilt and remorse for Celine's son's death and starts to feel like she's losing her mind when Celine keeps popping up and getting closer to her son. She wants distance and space from Celine, but feels like she can't push Celine away because her friend is grieving.

People closest to Alice start to die under mysterious circumstances, and she loses her mind trying to theorize why and how. She suspects Celine but can't prove it without seeming crazy.

Chastain's role is complex because she has to show how Alice is slowly losing her reason and morals due to Celine's manipulative behavior throughout the film.

Chastain does a phenomenal job at showing Alice's progression from a calm, collected housewife to a deranged, erratic woman trying to escape Celine and protect her own son.
The Good Nurse is a true story focusing on the character Amy, played by Chastain. Photo via FilmNation Entertainment.

The Good Nurse (2022)

Based on a true story, The Good Nurse, focuses on Amy, a struggling single mother who works as an ICU nurse. She befriends a new coworker named Charlie, who has more sinister intentions.

She was recently diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and needs a heart transplant, but she cannot afford it without health insurance. The issues with her job only bring up more stress and strain on her heart.

When more and more of her patients start turning up dead, she doesn't even think to suspect her new friend. But then she discovers that his IV bags have holes in them, meaning they have been contaminated. Shocked by this revelation, she alerts the detectives.

Chastain portrays this role phenomenally; she shows how she can be vulnerable but also determined to get justice for her patients. She cares deeply for her patients – even more than for her own health – and Chastain does a good job of showing this selfless side.

In addition, she also gives a good perspective on how the nurses can be overburdened and overwhelmed.