Jessica Chastain Quotes

Okay, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’m a very superstitious person. I’m walking onto the plane as we speak. I’m putting my hands on the outside of the plane and my feet are on the lip of the plane. I have to do it every time before I fly.

If you want me in your film, do a favored-nation clause. Don’t determine my worth based on what’s left over.

Green tea throughout the day is the healthiest thing I’ve discovered for me.

If I’m in Italy, I’ll have an espresso, but I try not to get my energy from things like that.

My grandmother was my inspiration. She was the person who took me to the theater and encouraged me to act, and she‘s the one who always believed in me.

My whole life, I wanted to be an actor. Perhaps the seed was planted when I saw Sigourney Weaver in ‘Alien‘, wiping the floor with the men on the ship.

Only a woman can tell you what it’s like to be a woman in a society where men are in charge. When you have one demographic that controls the livelihood of minorities, then you’re always going to have abuses of power. So this goes way beyond Hollywood.

I never heard in my entire life that a man was overprepared for anything. I am overprepared in my life. What’s wrong with being ambitious, being overprepared, being one step ahead?

If someone doesn’t want to hire me because they think I’m too vocal, fine. I will do a play. I will always find a job. Let them try to get me out of this industry. I am not going to be silenced!

I cut school to read Shakespeare and to learn about that because, for the first time, I felt like I really discovered a passion – the passion of my life.

I don’t want to be in my car all day. I love getting up in the morning in Venice and walking my dogs down to the cafe to get my tea, and then perhaps going to a bookstore and sitting and reading, then walking to the beach.

We need to understand that femininity is not weakness. And our society, for some reason, equates the two.

There I was at ‘The Tree of Life’ premiere, holding hands with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. That walk down the red carpet was a real rite of passage for me. Suddenly, journalists began asking, ‘Who’s this actress?’

I’m going to do anything I can to be there and support any organization that empowers and creates opportunities for women.

I’m inspired by antiques. I look at things that have a wink to the past but are also reinterpreted in some way and made to feel modern… and maybe that’s what I am.

No one ever recognizes me.

I’m used to working really hard to get a role. I was always auditioning and talking my way into roles.

When ‘Tree of Life’ went to Cannes, all the interviewers were asking me about my favorite actors and actresses because I was new to the industry, and they wanted to get to know me.

We have grown up watching women be used as props on a man’s journey. It’s not our fault that that’s what we saw as children. But we need to acknowledge that and do better.

I don’t want people to look at me.

Some people think I’ve had a nose job. I’ve never had anything like that done, but I have no judgement of anyone that does.

I’m not taking jobs anymore where I’m getting paid a quarter of what the male co-star is being paid. I’m not allowing that in my life.

If you’re one of the only women on a set – if it’s you and a bunch of men – you feel like your value doesn’t come from your thoughts and your talent and what you say: your value comes from how you look and how you’re perceived by the men around you.

One of my goals is to play a villain in a Bond film. People ask me if I want to be a Bond girl, and I say, ‘No, I want to be the villain.’ I’m waiting for that call!

I’m so inspired by the women who are far braver than I am, who have come forward with their stories and risked everything to help others. What is important is that the voices of these women do not disappear. We must amplify them.

We know in our society, women are valued for their sexual desirability and not necessarily for what they have to say.

Everyone has to learn how to live in an environment that has not made it easy for women to claim their place, so I think it’s all women‘s responsibility to step forward.

I’m the first person in my family to go to college.

Making films can be very lonely, and that’s the part I don’t like. I don’t want to feel like I’m pressing ‘pause‘ on my personal life to make a movie. I want to feel like I’m still creating relationships and things are moving forward.

I’ve had to learn how to say ‘no’ to offers.

I’ve never been in New York for the whole time of Fashion Week.

I was the first one in my family to go to college.

I take great responsibility in any character that I play.

Before, it was just about making the films – and now it’s releasing them. Which is a steep learning curve.

I look at all the ingredients of a film and say, ‘Is this a positive thing that I’m putting into the world? Is there honor and respect in the way the story is being told about them? And would they approve of that?’

I always say I am a realist, and my mom says, ‘No, you just have anxiety.’

I sometimes go to a movie and eat my popcorn and turn my brain off. I love those movies. But the movies I like to be in, for the most part, are the ones that challenge you.

I can’t even open my eyes underwater.

I’m very sensitive in real life. I cannot not cry if someone around me is crying. I will start to cry if someone is crying, even if it’s not appropriate. I have that thing in me, a weakness or sensitivity.

I love being around great actors and film-makers, and I try to hide the fact that I’m in awe of them.

When something happens, I always check myself and know it’s going to go away. So be prepared for it. This is a tough business for actors who are sensitive. If you try to hold on to things, you’ll go crazy.

The reason we like acting is connecting to other people.

I’m the unknown everyone‘s already sick of.

Acting, for me, has never been about wanting attention or wanting to be seen. It’s funny that I’m in a profession where that’s where I am. There’s so much I want to express; it’s about connecting with another person and the intimacy of what that is, and so I have to overcome my shyness.

I like characters and stories that challenge the status quo. Lately, I’m really interested in history because I find that in my public school education, I didn’t learn about women in history. I want to introduce the world to some great stories and incredible heroes.