A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Thursday honoring Jessica Chastain for a movie career that has included winning a best actress Oscar and receiving two other Academy Award nominations.
"Standing in front of this star, I feel the weight and the great gift of what we get to do in Hollywood," Chastain said after taking the podium.
Fellow Oscar winners Al Pacino and Viola Davis joined Chastain at Thursday's ceremony near the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, where she received the 2,819th star.
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"You just look at her, and you get inspired, as she just does these crazy things, (this) natural, outrageous talent," Pacino said during the ceremony.
Chastain has called Pacino her "acting godfather." She co-starred with him in a 2006 production of the Oscar Wilde one-act tragedy "Salomé" at the Wadsworth Theatre at the Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Campus.
The documentary "Wild Salomé," about Wilde and the play, was filmed during rehearsals and released in 2011. A film of the production edited from the documentary was released in 2013.
Chastain was reunited with Pacino in "Lear Rex," an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "King Lear," which is in post-production.
"You see Jessica and you know it. She's one of those. She's got `it.' ... I love `it,' and I love her," Pacino said.
As for Chastain and Davis, they were castmates in the 2011 period drama, "The Help," that brought Chastain her first Oscar nomination -- for best supporting actress -- while Davis received a best actress nomination.
"The only words I can think when I think of you, Jessica ... is no more walls. None," Davis said at the ceremony. "You have busted them down through the luminescent art of your work, and that makes you immortal."
After thanking colleagues and fans, Chastain reflected on what the star itself will represent to the countless people who pass by each day.
"People will walk all over this plaque on their way to auditions, to night shifts, to first dates, to heartbreaks and tourist photos. They will carry their own stories -- messy, gorgeous, unfinished stories," Chastain said. "And maybe they will also carry a scene or a character or a line that will remind them of their sister, or their childhood fridge, or that one afternoon they felt really brave."
Thursday's ceremony came 22 days before the premiere of the Apple TV+ limited series "The Savant," in which Chastain stars as an undercover investigator known as "The Savant" who infiltrates online hate groups to stop domestic extremists before they act.
Chastain is also among the crime thriller's executive producers.
Born March 24, 1977 in Sacramento and raised there, Chastain developed an interest in acting when she was 7 years old after her grandmother took her to a production of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."
Chastain completed her studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1998 and made her professional stage debut as Juliet in a production of "Romeo and Juliet" staged by the Palo Alto-based theater company TheatreWorks.
The production led her to audition for the Julliard School in New York City, where she was soon accepted and granted a scholarship funded by Robin Williams. Chastain received her bachelor's degree from Julliard in 2003 and signed a talent holding deal with John Wells, who has produced such series as "ER" and "The West Wing."
Chastain made her television debut in The WB network's 2004 pilot remake of the 1960s gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows," which did not get picked up as a series. Her other early television credits included "ER" and "Veronica Mars."
She made her film debut in the title role of the 2008 drama "Jolene," portraying a 15-year-old orphan who breaks free from the South Carolina foster care system and marries a nerdy 20-year-old (Zeb Newman).
Chastain received her second Oscar nomination in 2013 for best actress for her role as a CIA intelligence analyst in "Zero Dark Thirty," about the search for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
She won the best actress Oscar in 2022 for her portrayal of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye."
Chastain's other film credits include the 2022 thriller, "The Good Nurse"; the international spy thriller, "The 355," also released in 2022; "Scenes From a Marriage"; "IT: Chapter Two"; "Molly's Game"; "The Zookeeper's Wife"; "Woman Walks Ahead"; "Miss Sloane"; "A Most Violent Year"; "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby"; "Miss Julie" and "Interstellar."
She received an Emmy nod for outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie in 2023 for her portrayal of country singer Tammy Wynette in the Showtime miniseries "George & Tammy."
Chastain also earned a 2023 Tony nomination for best actress in a leading role for her performance in "A Doll's House."
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