Spotlight On: Jessica Chastain

She may be relatively new to the Hollywood scene, but Jessica Chastain has already made a big splash and gathered plenty of awards attention. Here are some of highlights of the 'A Most Violent Year' star's career.

Chastain quickly caught Hollywood's attention in her big-screen debut about a troubled, wandering teenage girl. 'Jolene' was partly inspired by the Dolly Parton song of the same name.

Michael Shannon headlines this compelling drama, where he plays a husband suffering from dreams of apocalyptic end times. Chastain plays his wife, struggling to come to terms with whatever her husband thinks he sees. This underrated film's slow-burn tension is not to be missed. 

In this remake of the 2007 Israeli film 'Ha-Hov,' Chastain and Helen Mirren both play a Mossad agent tasked with bringing a Nazi war criminal to justice. Matthew Vaughn, of 'X-Men: First Class' fame, directs.  

Proving she has the chops for Shakespeare, Chastain takes on the role of Virgilia in this modernized take on the classic play -- which also marks Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut.

Chastain continued her trend of starring in deep, intellectually-stimulating films with this Terrence Malick picture. Here, she plays the troubled matriarch of the O'Brien family, opposite a very compelling Brad Pitt. 

Chastain was almost unrecognizable as Celia Foote, a ditzy, naive but well-meaning housewife ostracized from the polite society of '60s-era Jackson, Mississippi. Chastain's work earned her an Oscar nomination -- her first -- for Best Supporting Actress. 

A very gritty and violent entry into the 1930's gangster movie sub-genre, 'Lawless' features Chastain as a dancer, hired to be a waitress, by three bootlegging brothers.

Chastain dipped her toes into more family-friendly fare with this CG sequel. She voices the character of Gia, an Italian jaguar introduced as a love interest for Ben Stiller's lion hero.

This controversial military drama about the manhunt for Osama bin Laden earned high marks from critics, as well as a Best Actress Oscar nom for its leading lady. 

Chastain proved she can also tackle horror with this film from producer Guillermo Del Toro. She shines as the mother figure to two young girls haunted by a spectral presence known only as “Mama.”

This intriguing, two-part film tells two sides of the same story as it explores a breakup between two lovers (played by Chastain and James McAvoy). Their story continues in yet a third film, 'Them.' 

Christopher Nolan's first space-set epic boasts an impressive ensemble, with Chastain playing Murph, the adult version of Matthew McConaughey's daughter. Murph feels betrayed and abandoned by her father, after he goes on a mission beyond time and space to save humanity -- and Chastain sells her character's anguish in every scene.