Quotes from Jessica Chastain

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.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I don't think anyone knew what to do with me.

I just don't think of myself as a movie star - I'm an actress.

I can't even open my eyes underwater.

I was excited that my films would finally see the light of day and people would see them. But I never imagined that such nice things would be said about a lot of my films.

I've actually been given a great gift. When I walk into an audition with a director, I'm carrying no baggage. They haven't seen me in anything, even though I've done nine films.

I'm the unknown everyone's already sick of.

We need to reevaluate that women who ask for a pay raise or ask for a promotion - it's actually an okay thing.

Maybe that's because there are so few women lobbyists; if they're there, it's for something they strongly believe in, not just for financial gain.

Most of the women I spoke to were pushing agendas that they felt connected to - more so than with the male lobbyists I met with.

For me, I'm not in an industry where I'm starving.

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.

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

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.

As an actor, I have a lot of fear, thinking that if I speak my mind, or something that feels like it deviates from the norm as a woman, am I going to be made to disappear in my industry?

I'm very much a hippie from Northern California.

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.

If I can help create empathy and balance in society, I'm going to do whatever I can to tell stories that subconsciously create that.

What I do now, when I'm taking on a film, I always ask about the fairness of the pay. I ask what they're offering me in comparison to the guy. I don't care about how much I get paid; I'm in an industry where we're overcompensated for the work we do.

I've had to learn how to say 'no' to offers.

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

I'm the kind of person [who] when I'm doing a play, and even when I'm working, I don't do anything else. When I'm working, I just work.

I struggled for so long to try to create a career.

People were confused by me, and at first I was auditioning a lot for the crazy characters or the victim, someone who'd been attacked. Which is great, because usually those are the best acting roles.