20 Best Jessica Chastain Movies of All Time Ranked, Including ‘Dreams’
From ‘Ava’ to ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ Moviefone counts down the 20 best films of Jessica Chastain’s acclaimed career, including her latest, ‘Dreams’.
March 8, 2026 — 13 min read
Jessica Chastain stars in ‘Dreams’. Photo: Greenwich Entertainment.
Jessica Chastain is one of the most talented and acclaimed actresses working today.
She first gained attention for her breakout role as Celia Foote in ‘The Help,’ which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She would go on to be nominated for Best Actress for ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ and ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye,’ finally winning the award for the latter performance.
Chastain has also as in such popular films as ‘Interstellar,’ ‘The Martian,’ ‘Crimson Peak,’ ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War,’ ‘Miss Sloane,’ ‘Molly’s Game,’ ‘Dark Phoenix,’ ‘It Chapter Two,’ ‘The 355,’ and ‘The Good Nurse.’
Her new movie, ‘Dreams,’ which reunites her with ‘Memory‘ filmmaker Michel Franco, opens in theaters in February 27th.
In honor of the new film, Moviefone is counting down the 20 best movies of Jessica Chastain’s impressive career, including her latest.
Let’s begin!
20. ‘Dark Phoenix‘ (2019)
(L to R) Sophie Turner as Jean Grey / Phoenix and Jessica Chastain as Vuk in ‘Dark Phoenix.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The X-Men face their most formidable and powerful foe when one of their own, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), starts to spiral out of control. During a rescue mission in outer space, Jean is nearly killed when she’s hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. The X-Men must now band together to save her soul and battle aliens that want to use Grey’s new abilities to rule the galaxy.
19. ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War‘ (2016)
As two evil sisters (Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt) prepare to conquer the land, two renegades—Eric the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman‘, and his forbidden lover, Sara (Chastain)—set out to stop them.
18. ‘Ava‘ (2020)
A black ops assassin (Chastain) is forced to fight for her own survival after a job goes dangerously wrong.
17. ‘Crimson Peak‘ (2015)
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author (Mia Wasikowska) is torn between love for her childhood friend (Charlie Hunnam) and the temptation of a mysterious outsider (Tom Hiddleston). Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds… and remembers.
16. ‘Texas Killing Fields‘ (2011)
In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective (Sam Worthington) teams up with a cop from New York City (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to investigate a series of unsolved murders.
15. ‘Memory‘ (2023)
(L to R) Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain in ‘Memory.’ Photo: Ketchup Entertainment.
Sylvia (Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.
14. ‘It Chapter Two‘ (2019)
27 years after overcoming the malevolent supernatural entity Pennywise, the former members of the Losers’ Club, who have grown up and moved away from Derry, are brought back together by a devastating phone call.
13. ‘The 355‘ (2022)
A group of top female agents from American (Chastain), British (Lupita Nyong’o), Chinese (Fan Bingbing), Colombian (Penelope Cruz), and German (Diane Kruger) government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
