Jessica Chastain as Antonina Żabińska
Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain has emerged as one of the most sought-after actresses of her generation.
Ms. Chastain attended the Juilliard School in New York City. She soon commenced a professional stage career.
The breakthrough in her film career came when she was cast by director Terrence Malick in his film The Tree of Life, opposite Brad Pitt. The movie was an Academy Award nominee for the Best Picture of 2011, as was another film that she starred in, Tate Taylor’s The Help, adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s novel. Ms. Chastain’s performance in the latter earned her Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, among other honors. With her fellow actors from The Help, she shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
She was again an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee for her starring role in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, for which she won both Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards. Following completion of the latter, she made her Broadway debut in Moisés Kaufman’s staging of the classic play The Heiress.
Ms. Chastain’s other films include John Madden’s Miss Sloane, for which she was again a Golden Globe Award nominee, and The Debt, also for Focus Features; Ridley Scott’s The Martian, which was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture; J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, for which she was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review and for which she a Golden Globe Award and Spirit Award nominee; Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, for which she was a Spirit Award nominee; Liv Ullmann’s Miss Julie; Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak; Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s The Huntsman: Winter’s War; John Hillcoat’s Lawless; Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Interstellar; and Andrés Muschietti’s Mama, for which she received an MTV Movie Award nomination.
In 2014 Ms. Chastain received the first-ever Critics’ Choice Award for Most Valuable Player (MVP), recognizing the breadth and depth of her accomplishments.
She will soon be seen in Susanna White’s drama Woman Walks Ahead, starring as 19th-century artist and activist Catherine Weldon; Xavier Dolan’s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan; and Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game, an adaptation of Molly Bloom’s memoir, starring as Ms. Bloom opposite Idris Elba.
After producing and starring in Ned Benson’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and executive-producing and starring in The Zookeeper’s Wife, Ms. Chastain has inaugurated her own production venture, Freckle Films, which has a first-look overhead deal with Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s transatlantic financing and production banner Maven Pictures.
Featurette: "Meet Antonina Żabińska"
Clip: "Jan's Plan"
Clip: "Stay Safe"
Clip: "What's In Their Hearts"
Niki Caro and Jessica Chastain Talk with The Huffington Post
Director Niki Caro Spends Time with Hitfix
Director Niki Caro Opens Up to the LA Times
Time Looks into The Zookeeper's Wife
CNN Talks with Moshe Tirosh - a Child Protected by the Żabińskis
Jessica Chastain and Niki Caro Speak with NPR
“There are many ways that someone can be brave and strong. I think that Antonina shows that compassion is an incredible form of strength.”
Diane Ackerman with The Huffington Post
@dearphotograph
Dear Warsaw, On the other side of these walls is where Jan & Antonina Żabiński saved hundreds of lives during WWII. They would sneak them out of the Ghetto to the Warsaw Zoo, where eventually they would find a safe haven for them to start a new life.-Taylor *@thezookeeperswife is in theatres March 31st 2017. To view the trailer and learn more about this incredible story visit the link in our bio. #DearPhotograph #TheZookeepersWife@iddophoto
Was very fortunate to take part in this compassionate and sensitive telling of bravery and survival. The @thezookeeperswife opens today.@jessicachastain
So much fun with this crew@jessicachastain
repost from @holocaustmuseumThe Germans devastated the Warsaw Zoo during their invasion of Poland in 1939. The #zoo, which flourished under Antonina and Jan Zabinski, was no longer a sanctuary for its animals. But soon it was the only lifeline for hundreds of people escaping the hands of the Nazis. With empty cages to spare, the couple smuggled in Jews from the #Warsaw Ghetto and hid them among the few remaining animals. Husband and wife played different roles in fighting the Nazis. Jan worked tirelessly with the Polish resistance, burying ammunition in the elephant enclosure and stashing explosives in the zoo’s animal hospital. Antonina cared for the zoo’s inhabitants––both human and animal. She sought to help her “visitors” thrive in hiding, encouraging them through play, music, and interaction with animals. “She redefines what it means to be a hero. Antonina’s representation of a hero uses love and compassion as a weapon against hate.”– Jessica Chastain, on her role as Antonina Zabinska in the film of the Zookeeper’s Wife, March 2017. To watch a discussion panel at USHMM with @jessicachastain click the link in our bio#ZookeepersWife #USHMM #NeverAgainJessica visits the Today Show
The Zookeeper's Wife Premieres in Poland
Jessica Chastain as Antonina Żabińska
Jessica and Johan visit the Zabinski's home.
Jessica Instas from the Zookeeper's Wife premiere in Warsaw.
Day 13 | 10.12.15
“Jessica carries this elegance with her, reminding me of an actress from the 1930s or 1940s. Sometimes I would get transfixed by how perfectly she inhabited the period.”
Niki Caro, Director
Daniel Brühl as Lutz Heck
Day 14 | 10.13.15
“Daniel is an actor of great charm who transmits intelligence on-screen in a way that is mesmerizing. But he could also show the menace that Heck was capable of.””
Day 15 | 10.14.15
Johan Heldenbergh as Jan Żabiński
Day 18 | 10.17.15
Day 20 | 10.20.15
“Johan is dynamic, and can express so much with just a look. He is soulful.”
Day 30 | 11.02.15
Day 33 | 11.05.15
Day 37 | 11.11.15
Michael McElhatton as Jerzyk
Day 40 | 11.16.15
Day 42 | 11.19.15
Day 45 | 11.23.15
Iddo Goldberg as Maurycy Fraenkel
Day 48 | 11.26.15
11.27.16
Efrat Dor as Magda Gross