Jessica Chastain is officially an Academy Award winner. At Sunday night’s Oscars 2022 ceremony, Chastain picked up the best-actress statuette for her performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, in which she portrayed the titular televangelist, Tammy Faye Bakker.
In her speech, she thanked director Michael Showalter, costar Andrew Garfield, and the movie’s hair and makeup team, who won an Oscar themselves for transforming Chastain into Bakker.
She then took a serious turn, noting how we as a culture “are coming out of some difficult times that have been filled with a lot of trauma and isolation.”
“Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States,” Chastain continued. “It’s touched many families. It’s touched mine and especially members of the LGBTQ community…”
“We’re faced with discriminatory and bigoted legislation that is sweeping our country with the only goal of further dividing us. There’s violence and hate crimes…In times like this, I think of Tammy and I’m inspired by her radical acts of love.”
Chastain won out in a stacked category that included Kristen Stewart (Spencer), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), and Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers).
Jessica Chastain was a late breakthrough in the race this awards season, surging to the fore only in the last few weeks after winning a Screen Actors Guild Award and then a Critics Choice Award.
Her leap ahead was yet another reminder that anything is possible in this year’s unpredictable race, which has seen contenders swing in and out of favor over the course of an elongated season.
This is Chastain’s third round at the Oscars. She was first nominated in 2012, for her supporting turn as a daffy, kindhearted housewife in The Help.
Her second nomination came the following year, for best actress in the terrorist drama Zero Dark Thirty. Now Chastain is finally bringing home the gold.
