Today is Jessica Chastain’s birthday, and it’s a good day to do some reminiscing. Think about it. Ten years ago today, the world didn’t know the powerhouse actress the way it knows her now. She had a few credits at this time, and one starring role in 2008’s Jolene, but that was it. Later in 2010, The Debt came out, and that’s the beginning of an exciting career for a generation great. 2011 had six credits for Chastain (including the docu-drama Wilde Salomé). I remember her being launched into superstardom overnight (or so it felt). This year, Chastain received her first Academy Award nomination. Now, it’s difficult to imagine a film industry without her. Killer role after killer role. Her domination of film, theatre and television. Her production company Freckle Films is slated to release its first films soon. There’s no question about it: Jessica Chastain is an incredibly hard worker. If you don’t know where to start with her career, allow us to help, because she should be on your radar. Here are five films for newcomers to the works of Jessica Chastain.

5. The Help

During her breakout year in 2011, Chastain received her first Academy Award nomination for her role as socialite Celia Foote in The Help. As a window to a world of kindness, Celia is a great foil compared to the other privileged members of her community. Being able to balance charm with drama, Chastain proved what she could do in a supporting role, and it was only a matter of time that she would take over the film industry as a leading juggernaut.

4. The Tree of Life

In that same year, arthouse and indie fanatics got an earlier taste of Jessica Chastain’s capabilities in The Tree of Life. A much more subtle, natural role than in The Help, Chastian’s mother character was impossible to turn away from. Who is this actress? We had to know, as she stole the show. Her tenderness reminds us of our own matriarchal figures in our lives, which only renders the powerful scenes (like the afterlife finale) even more beautiful and impressionable.

3. Interstellar

By 2014, Chastain had made her mark on the film industry. She could return to a supporting role and still own every scene. It felt like the character of Murphy was reserved for Chastain, as we view her life from childhood until old age; Murphy’s life is bookended by Mackenzie Foy and Ellen Burstyn. Having Chastain link an acting newcomer and an acting veteran only made sense, despite this being only a couple of years into her promising filmography. She inhabits young Murphy’s determination and future Murphy’s longing. In a film that leaps through time and space, we needed an on-Earth anchor, and Chastain pulled off that requirement perfectly.

2. Miss Sloane

Picking a great dramatic role by Chastain in the middle of her inaugural decade is challenging, because she had so many. A Most Violent Year, Molly’s Game, and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby all come to mind. I went with Miss Sloane, because I honestly feel that not every performer can pull off the jargon and difficulty of playing a lobbyist in such a contextually dense film. She pulls that off, and still takes on every scene as if it were the stage. I’m convinced the film wouldn’t have been remotely as good had someone else been Madeline Sloane.

1. Zero Dark Thirty

For me, there is no better role that Jessica Chastain has done so far than “Maya” in Zero Dark Thirty. Her evolution from curious newbie to shot caller is an absolute marvel to behold. She encapsulates all of the years that “Maya” worked on the Osama bin Laden case, until the point of self consumption. By the end, she doesn’t even have to say a word for you to know exactly how she feels: lost. Her entire adulthood has been taken up chasing someone else and being in harm’s way at every turn. When it’s all over, what else is there for her? She garnered her second Academy Award nomination (this time for Best Actress), and I’m still shocked that she didn’t get the actual win (of which she deserved). This is absolutely the best place to start if you want to discover the works of Jessica Chastain.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Jessica Chastain: Five Films for Newcomers