The Irish actor and singer Jessie Buckley has cemented her status as a leading awards contender with her performance in Chloé Zhao's film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet. Portraying Agnes (Anne) Hathaway opposite Paul Mescal's William Shakespeare, Buckley has already won the Critics' Circle award for best actress and is tipped for Golden Globes, Baftas and Oscars. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called her 'unselfconsciously beguiling', while Rolling Stone predicted her performance would be talked about for years.
Buckley, 36, describes Agnes as embodying 'the full story of what I understand a woman to be' – as a mother, lover and person with a language of her own alongside a literary giant. The film's emotional core comes in a devastating scene where Agnes realises her son Hamnet has died in her arms; Buckley's unfiltered scream, which Zhao said came from 'beyond past, present and future', cuts through the film's quiet intimacy.
Born in Killarney, County Kerry, and educated at an all-girls convent school before studying at Rada in London, Buckley's career began on the BBC talent show I'd Do Anything in 2008, where she finished second. Stage roles followed, including in The Tempest and opposite Jude Law in Henry V. Her early TV work included War & Peace, Taboo and The Woman in White, before her film debut in the psychological thriller Beast. Director Michael Pearce noted she gave 'every ounce of herself' to the role, while his editor was struck by her emotional aliveness.
Buckley's subsequent roles include TV series Chernobyl and Fargo, and films such as Wild Rose, The Lost Daughter – for which she received her first Oscar nomination – and Alex Garland's Men, where she played a widow tormented by men played by Rory Kinnear. Kinnear told the Guardian 'everyone that’s worked with [Jessie] knows she will go down as one of the best to ever do it'. She also starred in Women Talking and Wicked Little Letters.
On stage, Buckley won the Olivier award for best actress in a musical for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 2021 West End revival of Cabaret. Cabaret director Rebecca Frecknall recalled that during rehearsals for the title number, 'everyone in the room gradually stopped what they were doing'. That same year, Buckley released the album For All Our Days That Tear the Heart with Bernard Butler, which was shortlisted for the Mercury prize.
