The Oscar winner is taking classes at Harvard University, PEOPLE confirms

Jessica Chastain is pursuing a Master’s degree.

Chastain, 48, has enrolled in Harvard University’s Masters in Public Administration program at the school’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, PEOPLE confirms. The actress has been seen taking classes on Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts this summer, Variety first shared on July 30, citing a source.

Chastain, who won an Academy Award in March 2022 for her performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, studied briefly at Sacramento City College in Sacramento, Calif. in the late 1990s before she launched her acting career. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts lists Chastain among its notable alumni as a member of its class of 1998. After AADA, Chastain also studied acting at The Juilliard School and graduated in 2003. Juilliard also bestowed an honorary doctorate upon Chastain in May 2024 in recognition of her “outstanding contributions” to the theater and film industries.

“Dr. Chastain has a nice ring to it 🎓,” Chastain wrote on Instagram at that time, as she celebrated receiving her honorary doctorate degree. “thank you @juilliardschool for this honor and for the custom hat 🙃 congrats class of 2024!

Jessica Chastain on Feb. 15, 2025.Andreas Rentz/Getty

Chastain has spoken about her difficult upbringing with a single mom in Northern California in the past. In December 2024, the actress addressed her childhood during a speech at the 38th Annual American Cinematheque Awards, where she explained that her great-grandmother, grandmother, aunt and mother all had children before age 17 and “had to drop out of school and take on low-paying jobs to support their families.”

“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 said at that time. “And attending the Juilliard School didn’t just change my life. It showed my family that a different path was possible.”

Harvard’s website describes its Masters in Public Administration program as “for aspiring leaders with real-world experience and graduate-level coursework in economics, public policy, or management.”

Jessica Chastain on Feb. 24, 2024.Frazer Harrison/Getty

Chastain made her first onscreen appearances in 2004 episodes of ER and Veronica Mars. She made her film debut in 2008’s Jolene. Most recently, Chastain appeared in the 2024 movie Mothers’ Instinct and this year’s Dreams. She has a number of projects in the works, including an upcoming film titled Other Mommy, which Which Deadline reported in April is based on a 2024 novel by author Josh Malerman titled Incidents Around the House.

Chastain shared a video on Instagram on Friday, July 18 that implied she had wrapped filming her scenes for the project using the popular TikTok and Instagram Reels trend that uses pop star PinkPantheress’ song “Illegal.”