Jessie Buckley has become the first Irish winner of the Best Actress Oscar, taking the prize for her role in the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet. The 36-year-old actor beat Hollywood favourites Emma Stone, Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne to the trophy, which she dedicated “to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart”.
Buckley’s path to Oscar glory began on a reality TV show. After being rejected from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the then 17-year-old auditioned for I’d Do Anything, a BBC series presided over by Andrew Lloyd Webber that sought to cast the next Nancy in a West End revival of Oliver!. She made it to the final before losing to Jodie Prenger.
Buckley grew up in Killarney, County Kerry, in a musical household. Her mother Marina is an opera singer and harpist turned vocal coach, while her father Tim is a singer and poet. The family did not own a television until she was in her teens, and she would stage productions with her siblings.
Despite her early reality TV exposure, Buckley has carved out a career in independent film, deliberately avoiding social media and superhero franchises. “I’ve never done a Marvel, I’m not on Instagram, I’m probably the least bankable [choice],” she told Vogue.
In Hamnet, Buckley plays Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, grieving the death of their son. One scene, in which she lets out a shattering scream upon realising her child has died, has been widely praised. The Independent’s film critic wrote that Buckley “wails not only with her pain, but with her mother’s, and her mother’s mothers”.
