Oscar-Winning Actress is Heading to the Ivy League originally appeared on Parade.
You’re more likely to see actress Jessica Chastain in the hallowed halls of Harvard University than in Hollywood these days. The Zero Dark Thirty star is currently attending graduate school.
Variety is reporting that the Oscar-winning actress, 48, is enrolled in a two-year Master in Public Administration program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The star of films like The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Mother’s Instinct has been spotted around the Harvard Square neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“The Master in Public Administration Program is for aspiring leaders with real-world experience and graduate-level coursework in economics, public policy, or management,” according to Harvard’s website. “The Master in Public Administration (MPA) curriculum is flexible. You create a study plan that reflects your academic interests, focuses on your personal and professional aspirations, and integrates across disciplines.”
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A 2003 graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City, Chastain previously shared at the 38th Annual American Cinematheque Awards about how pursuing a college education was a way of breaking a trend in her family. Calling the theater her “lifeline,” it was a means of “escaping the cycle” that had followed her family for decades.
“I was the first in my family to not get pregnant as a teenager, the first to finish high school and the first to attend college,” Chastain shared, according to PEOPLE. “And attending the Juilliard School didn’t just change my life. It showed my family that a different path was possible.”
Related: Fans Put Jessica Chastain on Blast for ‘Entitled’ Complaint About JetBlue Flight
Oscar-Winning Actress is Heading to the Ivy League first appeared on Parade on Jul 30, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
