Jessica Chastain has won the Oscar for best actress at the 94th Academy Awards, currently under way at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Chastain won the prize for her role as Tammy Faye Bakker, wife of controversial televangelist Jim Bakker, in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a biopic that outlined the Bakkers’ troubled marriage and Tammy Faye’s support for LGBTQ+ rights. The film was directed by Michael Showalter and features Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker, and Cherry Jones as Tammy Faye’s mother, Rachel.
Chastain alluded to Bakker’s activism for LGBTQ+ rights in her speech, as she touched on the topic of LGBTQ+ youth suicide, which has “touched many families, and it’s touched mine”.
“We’re faced with discriminatory and bigoted legislation that is sweeping our country with the only goal of further dividing us,” she continued, referring to legislation such as Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” bill and anti-trans legislation in several states. “In times like this, I think of Tammy, and I’m inspired by her radical acts of love.
Chastain has already won numerous awards for her role in the film, including best actress at the Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild awards. Chastain is now third time lucky at the Oscars, having been nominated twice before, in the best supporting actress category for The Help in 2012, and as best actress for Zero Dark Thirty in 2013.
“For any of you out there who do in fact feel hopeless or alone,” she concluded her speech Sunday evening, “you are unconditionally loved for the uniqueness that is you.”
