Jessica Chastain Opens Up About Her Strengths, The Industry, & Her Finances
1. If I weren’t an actress, I’d be: A teacher. I like the idea of working with kids and being able to help someone express their thoughts and open up.
2. Best career advice I’ve gotten: To not follow the money, but to follow the education of projects.
3. The three qualities that got me where I am today: I’m very thorough, I enjoy collaborating, and I’m curious about people who are different from me.
4. Moment I felt I’d made it: After Zero Dark Thirty, I had this sense of financial stability that I’ve never experienced before in my whole life.
5. Kind of work I’d do for free: Work with animals.
6. Favorite perk of the job: The fashion. It’s wonderful to work with designers to help bring their creations to life.
7. Worst pitfall of the job: People stop saying no to you—that’s when you start going on a downward spiral.
8. Change I’d like to see in my industry: Lose its fear of women in powerful positions.
9. Who I admire and why: My mother, because she raised three kids as a single mom. That’s probably the hardest job there is.
10. Last thing I binge-watched: The Crown [Netflix], because it’s a story of a woman’s power and trying to navigate a relationship without emasculating her husband.
11. Book that left a lasting impression on me: Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century, which was the collection of letters between Taylor and Burton. For me, it was more about what I didn’t want in a relationship than what I long for.
12. Movie with the greatest ending: The Sixth Sense.
13. On my bucket list: To go on a safari in Africa.
14. Cocktail of choice: Bellini.
15. My perfect day would begin: With the sounds of birds.
16. My perfect day would end: With a beautiful sunset.
17. What every woman should try once in her lifetime: Going to a restaurant and having dinner by herself.
18. One thing I’m exceptionally good at: Acting. We all have to say we are good at our own professions—it’s important.
19. One thing I’m epically bad at: Roller-skating.
20. Superhero power I’d want to have: To stop, rewind, and fast-forward time, like a VCR. I would pause to be able to see everything around me and really feel the moment more.
21. Relationship advice to my younger self: If you think he’s cheating on you, he probably is.
22. Most agonizing career decision I’ve ever made: I’ve never made an agonizing career decision!
23. Easiest career decision I’ve ever made: Saying “yes” to director Terrence Malik’s screenplay Tree of Life.
24. How I made my first dollar: Probably a lemonade stand.
25. How I clear my mind after a crappy day: A bath.
26. What my career in five years looks like: I’m hoping to create more opportunities for women in the industry. That is a great passion of mine.
27. Craziest thing I ever did for love: I’m very shy, so I don’t do public displays of affection. I think love is intimate, and once it becomes a public thing is more about getting attention than being real.
28. Something I did recently for myself, because, why not: I left my phone at home and went for a walk in the countryside. It’s something I do when I get anxious. It’s important to be without your phone sometimes—it’s the best self-care you can do.