Jessie Buckley Makes History: First Irish Woman to Win Best Actress Oscar

She's gone and done it. Jessie Buckley, the Kerry woman, made history on Sunday night, becoming the first Irish actress to win the Best Leading Actress Oscar. The 36-year-old, raised in Killarney, took home the golden statuette for her portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, and let's be honest, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Buckley, as always, was in her element – her speech kicked off with a giddy laugh and cut straight to the heart: "It's Mother's Day in the UK, so I want to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos that is a mother's heart." She thanked her eight-month-old daughter Isla, who was probably "dreaming of milk," and her husband Freddie Sorensen, with whom she said she'd like to make "another 20,000 children." It was pure Buckley through and through – down-to-earth, emotional and perfectly pitched.

The journey from Killarney to Hollywood's pinnacle

Many might not remember that Buckley's career started from a very different place. She was just 18 when she came second in the British talent show I'd Do Anything, which was searching for a new Nancy for the musical Oliver! The win went elsewhere, but Buckley made a decision that would define the rest of her life: she didn't settle for the understudy role, instead applying to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduating as a fully-fledged drama actor.

Before her big break, she kept the wolf from the door by singing at Annabel's, a swanky private members' club in London where, as she herself put it, "the rich people weren't listening." But it was there she honed the skills that would later blow the roof off.

The years of the Wild Rose and the Beast

Buckley's film debut came in 2017 with the thriller Beast, where she played Moll, a young woman on the tense Isle of Wight. Even then, it was clear a star was being born. The following year brought the role that made the world sit up and take notice: Wild Rose. Buckley's portrayal of a Scottish ex-con and country music dreamer, Rose-Lynn Harlan, was so electrifying it earned her a Bafta nomination.

And here's the thing – Buckley can genuinely sing. She holds eight-grade qualifications in piano, clarinet and harp from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. The Wild Rose soundtrack went to number one, and she even performed at the Glastonbury Festival. This woman is no mere "actor who sings a bit" – she's a musician who also happens to be one of the finest actors of her generation.

From Chernobyl to the brightest Hollywood lights

If anyone still had doubts, she well and truly banished them in 2019. In the Chernobyl miniseries, Buckley played Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the wife of firefighter Vasily. It was a role that required serious nerve from the viewer – the scene where she desperately tries to reach her dying husband in hospital is one of the most harrowing of the decade.

Around the same time, she also starred in Judy opposite Renée Zellweger and appeared in the fourth season of Fargo. In 2021, The Lost Daughter brought her first Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actress), and it was none other than Olivia Colman who had insisted Buckley play the younger version of her character, Leda.

Since then, we've seen her in Women Talking as Mariche, a member of a Mennonite community, and Alex Garland's psychological horror film Men, in which she carried the entire weight of the movie on her shoulders.

What's the takeaway?

Buckley is proof that a country singer from a talent show can grow into one of the world's most respected actors, provided you have enough talent and enough sheer stubbornness. Her role choices have always been bold – she's never gone for safe sympathy votes, but rather for complex, fractured, and deeply human women who could have stepped straight from the pages of a Virginia Woolf novel.

And now it's official: Jessie Buckley is an Oscar winner. And we all know this is just the beginning.

Buckley's key roles at a glance:

• Beast (2018) – film debut where she showed her claws from the off.
• Wild Rose (2018) – breakthrough role as a country singer.
• Chernobyl (2019) – Lyudmilla, the firefighter's wife who touched millions.
• The Lost Daughter (2021) – young Leda, which brought an Oscar nomination.
• Women Talking (2022) – Mariche as part of a stellar ensemble.
• Hamnet (2025) – Agnes Shakespeare, the role that landed the first Irish Best Actress Oscar.