After an incredible clean sweep this awards season, Jessie Buckley has officially reached a career-defining moment: winning the Oscar for Best Actress. The Irish actress took home the Academy Award for her powerful performance as Agnes Shakespeare in ‘Hamnet’, capping off a run that already included a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Even more impressively, Buckley has made history as the first Irish actress ever to win the Best Actress Oscar!
However, Buckley’s journey to Hollywood’s biggest stage didn’t happen overnight.
Born and raised in Killarney in County Kerry, Buckley discovered her love for the performing arts from a young age. Her first taste of national attention came in 2008 when she appeared as a teenager on the BBC reality show ‘I’d Do Anything’, which searched for a new Nancy for the West End revival of ‘Oliver!’. Buckley finished as runner-up, but the experience opened doors and confirmed her passion for the stage and screen.
Those who knew Buckley early on weren’t surprised by her success. Her former music teacher, Joan Butler, remembered her talent shining during a school production of West Side Story, saying she was “spellbinding” and that “you couldn’t take your eyes off Jessie on the stage.” Butler even predicted her future, telling students, “Watch her girls, she’s going to win an Oscar one day.”
After ‘I’d Do Anything’, Buckley steadily built her career with roles in TV dramas like ‘Taboo’ and ‘The Last Post’, before gaining wider attention in films such as ‘Beast’ and ‘Wild Rose’. The latter also highlighted her musical talent, which she later showcased on the album ‘For All Our Days That Tear The Heart’, shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2022.
Her acting career continued to grow with major projects including ‘Chernobyl’, ‘Judy’, and ‘Women Talking’. In 2022, she earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for ‘The Lost Daughter’. But it was ‘Hamnet’ that truly placed her at the centre of the awards conversation.
In the film, Buckley portrays Agnes Shakespeare, the wife of William Shakespeare, as she navigates grief after the death of their son. Critics praised the emotional depth of the performance, with many describing Buckley as “one of the finest actresses of her generation.”
Despite the whirlwind success, Buckley has remained grounded. Speaking about the awards season earlier this year, she said: “To be in a room with all those incredible artists, that, for me, is the greatest thing. That and being a mom.” Buckley welcomed her first child last year and has dedicated many of her awards to her daughter, saying in one speech: “I promise to continue to be disobedient so that you can belong to a world in all your mad, complex wildness as a young woman.”
From a teenager on reality TV to an Oscar-winning actress, Jessie Buckley’s story is proof that talent, dedication and a little fearless creativity can take you anywhere. If this awards season is any indication, her success story is only just getting started.