Jessica is among the ‘New Hollywood‘ spotlight on current Entertainment Weekly magazine issue:

Jessica Chastain, 36

She stunned in her Oscar-nominated performance in The Help, so funny and messy and vulnerable playing a lonely, rich woman born of trash. And then suddenly Chastain was everywhere, a pale rock of a wife in Take Shelter and The Tree of Life. She earned her second Oscar nod in 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty for her turn as a fiercely competent CIA agent whose job demands she carry herself at a remove (and yet somehow, we still got the full range of an urgent person in pain). Next she’ll star in Christopher Nolan and Guillermo del Toro movies, but first, the indie drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, which premieres at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival.

Her Biggest Fans: “She’s so intelligent and sensitive and smart and makes amazing choices,” says Tom Hiddleston. “I think she’s going to be around for a long, long time.” Benedict Cumberbatch, her friend and future costar in the del Toro movie, Crimson Peak, agrees: “I can’t wait to work with her. We met last year, it was the BAFTAs party. She came in and went [in an American accent], ‘Oh my God! I’m such a big fan of yours! I love Sherlock!’ It was so sweet. And I was just standing in front of her going, ‘You are the real deal, and it’s just a thrill to watch your work.’ She’s just done so much. I think within her ability to be a chameleon and characterize a really wide range of backgrounds and character types and make them completely individual and unique, there’s also a universally accessible quality that she has. She’s stunning to watch.” —Karen Valby