Jessica Chastain is officially an Academy Award winner. At Sunday night’s Oscars 2022 ceremony, Chastain picked up the best-actress statuette for her performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, in which she portrayed the titular televangelist, Tammy Faye Bakker. 

In her speech, she thanked director Michael Showalter, costar Andrew Garfield, and the movie’s hair and makeup team, who won an Oscar themselves for transforming Chastain into Bakker. She then took a serious turn, noting how we as a culture “are coming out of some difficult times that have been filled with a lot of trauma and isolation.”

“Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States,” Chastain continued. “It’s touched many families. It’s touched mine and especially members of the LGBTQ community…. We’re faced with discriminatory and bigoted legislation that is sweeping our country with the only goal of further dividing us. There’s violence and hate crimes…. In times like this, I think of Tammy and I’m inspired by her radical acts of love.”

“For any of you out there who do, in fact, feel hopeless or alone, I just want you to know that you are unconditionally loved for the uniqueness that is you,” she said, closing her speech. 

Chastain won out in a stacked category that included Kristen Stewart (Spencer), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), and Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers). Chastain was a late breakthrough in the race this awards season, surging to the fore only in the last few weeks after winning a Screen Actors Guild Award and then a Critics Choice Award. Her leap ahead was yet another reminder that anything is possible in this year’s unpredictable race, which has seen contenders swing in and out of favor over the course of an elongated season. 

Previously, Kidman and Stewart were considered favorites to win the statuette. That changed over the course of the season, with Cruz quickly coming into play thanks to her stirring turn in Pedro Almodóvar’s latest work. But it all came down to Chastain in the end, who won voters over with her prosthetic-laden portrayal of Bakker, overcoming the film’s uneven critical reviews. The Eyes of Tammy Faye earned two Oscar nods overall: Chastain for best actress, and Stephanie Ingram, Linda Dowds, and Justin Raleigh, who won for best makeup and hairstyling. 

This is Chastain’s third round at the Oscars. She was first nominated in 2012, for her supporting turn as a daffy, kindhearted housewife in The Help. Her second nomination came the following year, for best actress in the terrorist drama Zero Dark Thirty. Now Chastain is finally bringing home the gold. 

More Great Stories From Vanity Fair

— Grimes on Music, Mars, and Her Secret New Baby With Elon Musk
— Oscars 2022 Live Updates: Follow Every Twist and Turn of the Race
— An Exclusive First Look at the Lush Where the Crawdads Sing Adaptation
— The Vanity Fair Oscar Party Returns: Fill Out Your Ballot and Watch the Livestream on March 27
— The Dropout: The Truth About Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani’s Secret Romance
— Jane Campion: A Candid Interview With a Master
— Ally Sheedy Left Hollywood. Then Came Single Drunk Female
— Industry Titans Join Forces to Slam Oscar Category Changes
— From the Archive: The Seduction-to-Split Secrets of Ava Gardner’s Three Marriages
— Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of “Awards Insider.”