Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#529
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jessica Chastain works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Jessica Chastain appears in 36 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jessica. Steel under composure — professionals who refuse to leave the room. Interstellar is the clearest case: a film rated 9.4 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for documentary, mystery, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Rob Savage, Benoît Delhomme, Simon Kinberg and others, Jessica Chastain helped set a standard other performers now audition against. 1 Academy Award confirm what the films already argue.
Interstellar (2014) as Murph · Interstellar (2014) as Murph · The Help (2011) as Celia Foote
Career snapshot
Ranked #529 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
36
2010–2026
Career length
22 yrs
Active since 2004
Academy Awards
1
Competitive wins
Oscar nominations
3
Career total
Highest Nutevio score
9.4
Interstellar
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.7
Interstellar
Most frequent director
Simon Kinberg
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Simon Kinberg
Most common genre
Drama
26 titles
Average runtime
1h 53m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
1
Career total
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
7.2
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
6.8 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Dark Phoenix, The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends, This Changes Everything — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.8
Across 24 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
1 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Dark Phoenix, The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends, This Changes Everything.
Most productive era
2010s
24 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.919 films | 6.57 films |
| Action | 6.22 films | 5.92 films |
| Thriller | 6.57 films | 6.24 films |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | — |
| Sci-Fi | 9.41 film | — |
| Crime | 6.53 films | 6.32 films |
| Romance | 6.44 films | 6.11 film |
| Horror | 6.82 films | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
Career begins
2004Working from 2004
The start of the professional record — years before the catalogue picks the story up.
First film in Nutevio
2010The Debt
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Young Rachel Singer.
First Academy Award nomination
2012The Help
Best Supporting Actress — the moment the industry started writing the same sentences our editors had been writing.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2014Interstellar
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.4 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
First Academy Award
2022The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Actress. Confirmation rather than revelation, which is how the best of these usually arrive.
Most recent film
2026Other Mommy
The current state of the argument, as Ursula / Other Mommy.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
36 of 36 films
as Murph
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Murph
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Melissa Lewis
Directed by Ridley Scott
as Molly Bloom
Directed by Aaron Sorkin
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 41 titles · 50 total credits · active 2008–2026
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth
2026 · Self (archive footage)
Other Mommy
2026 · Ursula / Other Mommy
HIS & HERS
2026 · TV · Executive Producer
Dreams
2025 · Jennifer McCarthy · Executive Producer
Family Recipe Showdown
2025 · TV · Guest Judge
Mothers' Instinct
2024 · Alice · Producer
Better Angels: The Gospel According to Tammy Faye
2024 · TV · Self
Memory
2023 · Sylvia
Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled
2023 · TV · Self
The 355
2022 · Mason 'Mace' Brown · Producer
The Good Nurse
2022 · Amy Loughren
Armageddon Time
2022 · Maryanne Trump
The Forgiven
2022 · Jo Henninger
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
2021 · Tammy Faye Bakker · Producer
Scenes from a Marriage
2021 · TV · Mira Phillips · Executive Producer
Ava
2020 · Ava · Producer
Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy
2020 · Self
Dark Phoenix
2019 · Vuk
The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends
2019 · Self
This Changes Everything
2019 · Self
Very Ralph
2019 · Self
It Chapter Two
2019 · Beverly Marsh
Woman Walks Ahead
2018 · Catherine Weldon
Molly's Game
2017 · Molly Bloom
The defining work
#1
Murph
Interstellar (2014)
Performance score9.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Murph gives Jessica Chastain a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Murph
Interstellar (2014)
Performance score8.7
Interstellar asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Murph is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Celia Foote
The Help (2011)
Performance score8.3
The Help asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Celia Foote is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Melissa Lewis
The Martian (2015)
Performance score8.2
The Martian asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Melissa Lewis is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Murph
Start here. Interstellar is the clearest statement of what Jessica Chastain does — accessible, 169 minutes, and rated 9.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jessica at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
The Help (2011)
Keeps the drama register of Interstellar but asks for a colder reading of it.
Interstellar (2014)
Keeps the drama register of The Help but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Martian (2015)
Keeps the science fiction register of Interstellar but asks for a colder reading of it.
Molly's Game (2017)
Keeps the drama register of The Martian but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Christopher Nolan
Director
2 films together
Notably Interstellar
Tate Taylor
Director
2 films together
Notably The Help
Simon Kinberg
Director
2 films together
Notably The 355
John Madden
Director
1 film together
Notably The Debt
Ami Canaan Mann
Director
1 film together
Notably Texas Killing Fields
Ralph Fiennes
Director
1 film together
Notably Coriolanus
Terrence Malick
Director
1 film together
Notably The Tree of Life
Kathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together
Notably Zero Dark Thirty
Eric Darnell
Director
1 film together
Notably Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
J.C. Chandor
Director
1 film together
Notably A Most Violent Year
Liv Ullmann
Director
1 film together
Notably Miss Julie
Guillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together
Notably Crimson Peak
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Martian
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Huntsman: Winter's War
Aaron Sorkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Molly's Game
Susanna White
Director
1 film together
Notably Woman Walks Ahead
Andy Muschietti
Director
1 film together
Notably It Chapter Two
Susan Lacy
Director
1 film together
Notably Very Ralph
Michael Showalter
Director
1 film together
Notably The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Tobias Lindholm
Director
1 film together
Notably The Good Nurse
Benoît Delhomme
Director
1 film together
Notably Mothers' Instinct
Rob Savage
Director
1 film together
Notably Other Mommy
Matthew McConaughey
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Anne Hathaway
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Michael Caine
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Casey Affleck
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Wes Bentley
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Topher Grace
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Mackenzie Foy
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Ellen Burstyn
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
John Lithgow
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Bill Irwin
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
David Gyasi
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Timothée Chalamet
Actor
1 film together
Notably Interstellar
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Christopher Nolan
Director
2 films together · 9.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
InterstellarTate Taylor
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The HelpSimon Kinberg
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The 355Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MartianAaron Sorkin
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Molly's GameKathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Zero Dark ThirtyTobias Lindholm
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Good NurseBenoît Delhomme
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mothers' InstinctAndy Muschietti
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It Chapter TwoSusanna White
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Woman Walks AheadGuillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crimson PeakEric Darnell
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most WantedTerrence Malick
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Tree of LifeJ.C. Chandor
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Most Violent YearJohn Madden
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The DebtMichael Showalter
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Eyes of Tammy FayeSusan Lacy
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Very RalphCedric Nicolas-Troyan
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Huntsman: Winter's WarRalph Fiennes
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CoriolanusAmi Canaan Mann
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Texas Killing FieldsLiv Ullmann
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Miss JulieRob Savage
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Other MommySix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
2 wins · 2 nominations
2 wins · 2 nominations · latest 2022
The Eyes of Tammy Faye · as Actor
Interstellar
Zero Dark Thirty · as Actor
The Help · as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Interstellar
as Murph
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
as Eleanor Rigby
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Interstellar
as Murph
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth
as Self (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Interstellar
as Murph
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Jessica Chastain has known it for a long time.”
“Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Murph, I'm coming back.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.6 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #10 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | 3 recorded | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | 1 | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | 3 | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.4 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Christopher Nolan | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Screen presence, Charisma | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2014–2014 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Murph — Interstellar | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Interstellar | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Interstellar
Shared directors
Christopher Nolan
Shared collections
Top 100 Mind-Bending Movies, Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked, Best Time Travel Movies, Adventure Movies, Sci-Fi Movies, Best Space Movies
Collaborators in common
Christopher Nolan · Matthew McConaughey · Anne Hathaway · Michael Caine · Casey Affleck · Wes Bentley · Topher Grace · Mackenzie Foy
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Editor's Icon
Awarded
Named by our desk for a body of work we return to when we need to explain what screen acting is for.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Most Influential Career
Awarded
Recognised for changing what casting directors thought a leading performance could look like.
Drama Legend
Awarded
26 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Interstellar
as Murph
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Interstellar
as Murph
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Dreams
as Jennifer McCarthy
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Interstellar
as Murph
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Interstellar
as Murph
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The 355
as Mason 'Mace' Brown
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
as Gia (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Interstellar
as Murph
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 9 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
theme
Top 100 Mind-Bending Movies
Features Interstellar at #1
Read the collectiondirector
Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked
Features Interstellar at #1
Read the collectiontheme
Best Time Travel Movies
Features Interstellar at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Adventure Movies
Features Interstellar at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Sci-Fi Movies
Features Interstellar at #1
Read the collectiontheme
Best Space Movies
Features Interstellar at #2
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
If you like this performer
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Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
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Community
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