# Jessica Chastain's real name

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-chastains-real-name/813512>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 3, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-chastains-real-name/813512 "2018-05-03T15:02:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-chastains-real-name/813512/1 "2018-05-03T15:02:05Z")

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As far as I can tell, Jessica Chastain’s real name is Jessica Chastain. Her mother is Jerri Chastain and her father is Michael Monasterio (they were not married). Jerri Chastain later married Michael Hastey, who is Jessica’s stepfather. Jessica’s siblings are Juliet Chastain and Will Chastain. Jessica married Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo. So it appears her real name could plausibly be Jessica Chastain or Jessica Monasterio or Jessica Hastey or Jessica Passi de Preposulo.

But I have seen several places that say her real/birth name is Jessica Howard, without any explanation given. [cite](https://www.biography.com/people/jessica-chastain-20830013)

What makes this suspicious is that many people confuse Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard. The two actresses themselves have joked about this. So I’m wondering if somebody jokingly referred to Jessica Chastain as Jessica Howard at some point and other people thought it was true.

Does anyone know if her surname ever was really Howard and, if so, how she got that name?

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**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-chastains-real-name/813512/2 "2018-05-03T15:32:16Z")

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the actor’s union does not allow 2 actors to use the same name so that could be why she uses a stage name.

There are other Jessica Howards listed in IMDB , not surprising since Howard is a common last name.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-chastains-real-name/813512/3 "2018-05-03T16:17:41Z")

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> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> the actor’s union does not allow 2 actors to use the same name so that could be why she uses a stage name.

I’m aware that many actors change their names. But I don’t see how she was ever named Jessica Howard.

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**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jessica-chastains-real-name/813512/4 "2018-05-03T18:07:18Z")

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There is a high school yearbook picture of her on the internet, and she is using the name Jessica Chastain. So if she was born with a different last name, she changed it for reasons other than acting. Her first imdb movie credit was at 27 years of age, or so.