This Girl Grew up in Poverty and Was Teased for Her Looks – Years Later, She Became an Oscar-Winning Actress

She once went to bed hungry. Classmates told her daily that she was ugly and that nobody wanted to be her friend. Years later, the whole world would disagree.

Growing up in Sacramento, California, this actress did not have what most people would call a head start. Her mother, Jerri, was a vegan chef raising her family alone, and money was perpetually scarce.

The actress as a child | Source: Facebook

There were nights, she has recalled, when there simply was not enough food on the table. "We did not have money. There were many nights when we had to go to sleep without eating. It was a very difficult upbringing," she once told the Irish Times.

Yet it was her mother's relentless sacrifice — and the empathy it instilled — that she credits as one of her greatest gifts. "Because of my mother, I do always try to think about how something must be for someone else," she added.

The actress as a young girl | Source: Instagram

Home life was tough, but school was its own battlefield. Every single day, she said, she was told she was ugly. "I was told every day at school that I was ugly. And that no one wanted to be my friend," she revealed to Glamour magazine.

For most children, that kind of sustained cruelty would be crushing. For her, those experiences would eventually fuel a fierce desire to lift others. "If I can do anything to help young girls and to be a cheerleader for people who sometimes have low self-esteem, I want to do that," she said.

The actress as a young girl. | Source: Facebook

Her mother and grandmother were the two pillars holding everything up.

While her grandmother was the one who eventually helped her make the leap to New York — shipping care packages of jackets and sweaters to keep her warm through winters unlike anything the family had known — her mother drove her an hour and a half to audition for her first professional theater company, Theater Works in San Francisco.

The actress wearing Giorgio Armani 261S Sunglasses from Solstice Sunglass Boutique at the Lucky/Cargo Club Day 3 on May 18, 2005. | Source: Getty Images

She landed the role of Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet." It was a beginning. "My mom and my grandmother really were there for me and made sacrifices in their lives," she has said. "I'm very grateful to them for helping me on my way, and I hope to pay it forward."

She would need every ounce of that foundation, because even as she pursued her dream, the industry pushed back hard. Early in her career, she was told she was not pretty enough for the parts she was going for.

The actress poses at The Creative Coalition Hosts an Evening with Cast Members of Oscar Wilde's "Salome" on May 3, 2006. | Source: Getty Images

"It's only been in the past five years that people have been telling me I'm attractive," she told the Telegraph in 2015. "Before then, I wasn't getting parts because people kept telling me I wasn't pretty enough."

At one point, she was even advised to dye her hair — the flame-red locks that would eventually become her signature. She refused, fought for every role, and kept going. "If I get a role, it's because I fought for it," she said.

The actress attends "The New Garde: A Celebration of Fashion" sponsored by Gen Art and Acura on March 16, 2007 at Ivar Studios in Hollywood, California. | Source: Getty Images

What kept her grounded through all of it was the knowledge of where she came from — and a determination to break the cycle her family had been trapped in for generations.

Her great-grandmother, grandmother, aunt, and mother had all had children before the age of 17 and had to leave school to take on low-paying jobs to support their families.

The actress arrives at The HFPA Salute To Young Hollywood Party held at Nobu on December 17, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images

She was the first in her family not to follow that path — the first to finish high school, the first to attend college. "Attending the Juilliard School didn't just change my life. It showed my family that a different path was possible," she said in a speech at the 38th Annual American Cinematheque Awards in December 2024.

Theater, she explained, became her lifeline — a way to be seen, to use her voice, and to break free from expectations that had bound her family for generations.

The actress during her early theatre days | Source: Instagram

Getting into Juilliard had its own improbable twist. An actor in the production of "Romeo and Juliet" encouraged her to audition for the prestigious New York drama school. She got in — with the help of a scholarship funded by the legendary Robin Williams, who was one of the school's famous alumni.

She graduated in 2003, part of "Crew 32," and from there, she has not looked back. She later received an honorary doctorate from Juilliard in May 2024, wryly posting on Instagram, "Dr. Chastain has a nice ring to it."

The actress attends the Premiere of "Bright Star" Presented by Vanity Fair & Apparition at Paris Theatre on September 14, 2009 in New York City. | Source: Getty Images

The secret nerd streak runs deep. In 2025, she revealed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" that she had enrolled in a mid-career program at Harvard — and that her favorite class turned out to be quantitative methods, essentially statistics.

"As theater nerds we never got to learn stuff like that. So I am a secret nerd. I got the hots for, like, scatter graphs and, like, bell curves," she admitted with a laugh. Her stated goal upon graduation? "To take over the world."

The actress onstage at ELLE's 17th Annual Women in Hollywood Tribute at The Four Seasons Hotel on October 18, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California. | Source: Getty Images

By the time Hollywood finally caught up to her talent, it did so with force. In 2011, she had what many in the industry described as one of the most astonishing breakout years any actress had ever had, appearing in multiple major films simultaneously.

The accolades followed: she took home numerous coveted awards for Best Supporting Actress for "The Help" in 2012 and a Golden Globe win for Best Actress for "Zero Dark Thirty" in 2013, along with Oscar nominations in those same categories.

The actress accepts the Best Actress award for Motion Picture, Drama, "Zero Dark Thirty" on stage during the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel International Ballroom on January 13, 2013 in California. | Source: Getty Images

Then, in 2022, she walked away with the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." In her acceptance speech, she thanked her husband and, in Italian, her children, saying, "Il mio tesoro, Giulietta, Augustus, you are my heart."

That husband is Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, a fashion executive she met at a Giorgio Armani show in Paris in 2012. The couple dated for five years before marrying in 2017.

The actress and her husband, Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 27 in Beverly Hills, California. | Source: Getty Images

They now have two children — daughter Giulietta, born in 2018, and son Augustus, born in 2020. Motherhood has deepened her already outspoken commitment to raising children who see the world expansively.

She has told her daughter, Giulietta, that she can be more than one thing: a mother, an actress, a producer, a businesswoman, a friend — all at once. She has also instilled in her an appreciation for imperfection. "Beauty doesn't lie in perfection," she told IndieWire in 2023.

The actress poses for a selfie, posted on August 3, 2020. | Source: Facebook

As for the little girl's toys of choice? A collection of dolls made in the likeness of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. "A lot of kids play with Marvel characters and Barbies and that's fine, but my kid… she plays with superheroes," she once wrote.

She has also carried her advocacy well beyond her own household. In a 2024 speech, she spoke about her continued effort to challenge the narrow roles society assigns to women — being valued only for their appearance or their function as mothers.

The actress (C) with her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, her grandmother Marilyn Herst, and her mother Jerri Chastain attend the 38th Annual American Cinematheque Awards at The Beverly Hilton on December 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. | Source: Getty Images

She credits two early films, "Mama" and "Zero Dark Thirty," as the roles that helped her make that point at the start of her career.

The actress poses with her award at 38th Annual American Cinematheque Awards at The Beverly Hilton on December 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. | Source: Getty Images

In 2012, Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, with actor Gary Oldman writing her profile and calling her work "formidable" — tremendous, terrific, and awesome.

In September 2025, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the moment with characteristic wit. "Yesterday I got my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Which basically means I'm now available 24/7 for people to step on me — dreams do come true," she wrote.

The actress attends her Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony on September 4, 2025 in Hollywood, California. | Source: Getty Images

Online, fans and followers have not been shy about weighing in on the woman once told she wasn't pretty enough for the screen.

"You look amazing!!" one gushed breathlessly. "Absolutely stunning 😍," another swooned. "Beautiful and perfect 😍," a third declared.

The actress arrives at the 12th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at Barker Hangar on April 18, 2026 in Santa Monica, California. | Source: Getty Images

Her name is Jessica Chastain.

The girl who grew up without enough food, who was told every day she was ugly, who was the first in her family to finish high school. She is now an Oscar winner, a Harvard student, a Hollywood icon, and, by her own account, a woman just getting started.