00:09Alright, well thank you so much to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, to my colleagues and collaborators,
00:15to Al and Viola, what legends you are. Thank you for those very moving words.
00:21I'm so lucky to know you and love you.
00:24I want to thank my family, Gianluca.
00:27I want to thank my kids, my everything.
00:31This honor belongs to all of you.
00:33So I grew up in Northern California, and my mom had me when she was 17.
00:38And it was four of us, my mom, my sister, my brother, and me.
00:42And it was a single-parent household. We moved around a lot.
00:45And I didn't really know what normal looked like outside of our front door.
00:49Life was just life.
00:51And there are moments from that time that still live in my body.
00:55Once at a grocery store, my mom realized she didn't have enough money.
00:59And I watched her quietly hand back one item, then another, trying to bring the total down.
01:06And my cheeks burned with every cashier beep and every frustrated sigh from the people behind us.
01:14And we were really hungry. Actually, back then we were hungry a lot.
01:18But my mom had this magic trick.
01:21Diet cookies from the 99-cent store.
01:25And they were supposed to expand in your stomach if you drank water with them.
01:29Not good.
01:32They tasted like cardboard, but with big ambitions.
01:36And she'd say, have a cookie, like it was a treat.
01:40Spoiler, it was not a treat.
01:42It was love.
01:44It was ingenuity.
01:46And it was a mom doing her best.
01:48So the plot twist came in a school drama class.
01:53My teacher, she had a sleek bob, killer boots, and Broadway energy.
01:59She came into the room and she announced very excitedly, we're going to read Sam Shepard.
02:05The play was called The Curse of the Starving Class.
02:08A boy comes home, opens the fridge, and just stares.
02:11But there's nothing inside.
02:12It's empty.
02:13And I remember in that moment thinking, wait, that's me.
02:18Until then, I didn't realize that our life was unusual.
02:21We weren't trouble, but we were invisible.
02:25I'd show up to school and no one would ask me if I had breakfast.
02:30So that day in drama class, something cracked open.
02:33Stories don't just entertain.
02:36They reveal.
02:38They point a light at you and they say, hey you, I see you.
02:44And that spark then became my compass.
02:48Acting is what I do, but storytelling is why.
02:51Stories build empathy.
02:53They make us care about people we've never met.
02:55And they remind us that women are not just categories or plot devices.
03:00We're complex, contradictory, brilliant humans with great instincts and too often worse options.
03:14To my mom and sister, thank you for always smelling like hope.
03:18To my sister, whose story I carry with me always, you are part of everything I do.
03:25To my children, thank you for the way you move through the world.
03:30Curious, fearless, full of whys, so many whys.
03:35Reminding me every day to keep learning and to keep wondering.
03:39To my friends, my teachers, my collaborators.
03:42You guys turned a shy, awkward drama kid into a woman who believes that stories can save lives.
03:48And to everyone gathered here today.
03:51Everyone, all you back there.
03:54Thank you for being a part of my story and letting me be a part of yours.
04:01I'm honored, I'm humbled, and I am so excited to see what we make together next.
04:06Thank you so much.
04:07And my path hasn't been a straight line.
04:16Like many families, ours carries loss.
04:19My sister struggled with mental illness and is no longer with us.
04:22And I don't share that for sympathy.
04:25I share it because silence doesn't heal.
04:28Love and acknowledgement do.
04:31If I work so fiercely to help others feel seen, it is because I know what it is to feel invisible.
04:38And to know the cost when pain isn't witnessed.
04:43My work is a promise to her and to anyone who has ever needed someone to say,
04:47I'm here and I'm listening.
04:50So standing in front of this star, I feel the weight and the great gift of what we get to do in Hollywood.
04:57People will walk all over this plaque on their way to auditions, to night shifts, to first dates,
05:03to heartbreaks and tourist photos.
05:06They will carry their own stories, messy, gorgeous, unfinished stories.
05:12And maybe they will also carry a scene or a character or a line that reminded them of their sister.
05:18Or their childhood fridge.
05:21Or that one afternoon they felt really brave.
05:24The best sets I've ever been on and the best communities I've known, they run on us and not on me.
05:30They run on the grip who catches you when you leap.
05:33The writer who gives you a sentence that breaks your heart wide open.
05:37I'm talking to you, Abe Sylvia.
05:39The costume designer who understands your character before you do.
05:43The director who keeps the engine running on coffee and miracles.
05:48And they run on audiences, on you, who complete the story by meeting it with your own life.
05:57My superpower, if I have one, is believing that strangers can become an us.
06:04So this start to me, it's not an end point, it's a mile marker.
06:08It says, keep going, keep choosing stories that widen this circle, that honor survivors,
06:14that ask hard questions and leave us a little more tender with one another.
06:19For Al, his mother sneaked him into movie theaters when he was little.
06:26Sitting in the dark, he found a place to shape the chaos of his youth into something universal.
06:32And for Viola, everything changed the night she saw Cecily Tyson on TV.
06:38She realized her life could be transformed through story.
06:43Their journeys remind us that storytelling is both personal and communal.
06:48It connects one life to another.
06:51And my grandmother has been that presence for me.
06:55A redhead, another redhead, Al, be careful of us, we're everywhere.
07:00A redhead with movie star boys and a motorcycle mama nickname from my schoolyard.
07:05She took me to the theater, she moved me to New York when I got into Juilliard.
07:09And she demanded I show up for my graduation after a family loss when showing up really felt impossible.
07:17She had always said, you deserve to be seen.
07:20And if I carry any courage, a lot of it is her perfume in a sweater in a drawer.
07:26Love that lingers, a reminder of who I am.
07:29On you, who complete the story by reading it with your own mind.
07:35My super power, if I have one, is believing that strangers can become an us.
07:43So this star to me is not an end point, it's a vile marker.
07:47It says, keep going, keep choosing stories that widen the circle, that honor survivors, that ask hard questions, and leave us a little more sensitive than one another.
07:58To my mom and sister, thank you for always smelling my coat.
08:04To my sister, true story I very quickly always, you are part of everything I do.
08:10To my children, thank you for the way you move through the world, curious, fearless, full of lies, so many lies.
08:20Reminding me every day to keep learning and to keep honoring.
08:24To my friends, my teachers, my collaborators.
08:28You guys turn the shy, awkward drama kid into a woman who believes that stories is lies.
08:34And to everyone gathered here today, to everyone, all of you back and forth.
08:39Thank you for being a part of my story, and letting me be a part of yours.
08:46I'm honored, I'm humbled, and I am so excited to see what we make together next.
08:52Thank you so much.
08:55On behalf of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, it is our honor to welcome the newest member of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Jessica Chastain!
09:16Who's from the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
09:18It's a wonderfulĂŞnese, and I offer a wonderful story, the way you're looking forward to seeing your life.
09:21OK, so you're the one who are going to be a part of your life.
09:23And you're the one who is who is your honor and you're the one who looks up to your family.
09:25And you're the one who comes into your life.
09:30And you're all kind of a great day.
09:32If you're here, you have another guest.
09:34Stay here, you can only get to the one who's your honor.
09:37And you're all kind of the one who wants to be here.
09:39And for this, anyone who wants to be here.
09:41This is my friend who loves me.
09:43You're a great guy, I'm going to be here.
09:45And ladies in the help, just straight ahead, straight, and just do the white glow, just
09:54And everybody all the way out of the corner, Octavia on the corner of the side, and straight
10:00down the other.
10:02And ladies in the left, right, right, please.
10:07Can we get off the video on the corner of the right corner?
10:12Can I lie to the right?
10:17Can I lie to the right?
10:20Back to the middle.
10:23Over here, right up.
10:29Oh, sorry.
10:34Straight in the middle.
10:37Ta-da!
10:40Okay, guys.
10:41Stand on my face.
10:44I'm doing this, I don't know.
10:49I'm fine.
10:50I'm fine.
10:51No problem.
10:53No problem.
10:54Just going to land around.
11:00Just going to land around.
11:02Just going to the right corner.
11:06And to the right corner.
11:08And to the right corner, back to the middle.
11:20And to the right corner.
11:21And to the right corner.
11:23Okay, guys, keep coming one more.
11:25Oscar, Oscar.
11:27Oscar, Oscar.
11:32And straight ahead, Jessica.
11:34Jessica.
11:35Straight ahead, dude.
11:36Jessica.
11:37Way on top.
11:38Jessica, go to the right side.
11:44And Jessica.
11:45Jessica on the right.
11:47Jessica.
11:48Jessica.
11:49Jessica.
11:50Jessica.
11:57Jessica.
11:59Thanks, guys.
12:00We're going to move the right corner and just straight down the middle.
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