Chastain Gets Oscar Nod

Actress and longtime vegan Jessica Chastain has earned her first Oscar nomination for playing Celia Foote in 2011’s The Help, a film about white women and their black maids in 1960s Mississippi. For her role as the curvy and clueless Celia Foote, Chastain transformed her willowy frame by drinking melted tubs of soy ice cream, a process she likened to “a form of torture” in a 2011 interview. Though she did have to gain 15 pounds, Chastain didn’t have to compromise her cruelty-free diet for the part: for scenes that required Celia to eat fried chicken, caterers created a vegan version of the Southern staple using Tofurky and veggie dogs.