JESSIE BUCKLEY HAS won the Oscar for Best Actress for her acclaimed performance as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet. 

The Killarney native beat Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson, Renate Reinsve and Emma Stone to claim her first ever Academy Award.

Buckley has also made history as the first ever Irish woman to win the Best Actress gold statuette.

Her win was the success for Hamnet on a night when One Battle After Another won the most awards with six. 

Hamnet explores the relationship between William Shakespeare, played by Paul Mescal, and his wife Agnes in the aftermath of their 11-year-old son’s death.

Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film is adapted from the book by author Maggie O’Farrell, who is from Coleraine, Co Derry.

“Thank you so much. This is really something,” an emotional Buckley said before breaking into giggles on stage. 

Addressing her fellow nominees, she said: “Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside. I am inspired by your art and your heart and I want to work with every single one of you.”

Buckley then turned her attention to her family in the crowd, declaring that “Ireland bought them flights”. 

She thanked her parents for “teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectation, but to carve from your own passion”. 

She also thanked her husband Fred. ”I love you. You’re the most incredible dad, you’re my best friend and I want to have 20,000 more babies with you. I do!”.

To her eight-month-old daughter Isla, who she said has no idea what is going on and is “probably dreaming about milk”, Buckley said: “I love you and I love being your mom and I can’t wait to discover life beside you.”

The Kerry woman then addressed Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell. “To get to know this incandescent woman and journey to understand the capacity of a mother’s love is the greatest collision of my life.”

Buckley then informed the audience that it was Mother’s Day in the UK and Ireland. 

I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.

“We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds. This is the greatest honour, I can’t even believe it,” she concluded.

“Go raibh míle, míle maith agaibh. Slán.”

The win caps a momentous awards season for Buckley.

She had been favourite to take home the Oscar, having scooped the equivalent best actress gongs at the Actor Awards, the BAFTAs, the Critics’ Choice Awards and the Golden Globes.

The 36-year-old was previously nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the 2021 film The Lost Daughter.

Her achievement also means that an Irish-born person has won in every acting category at the Academy Awards.

The first was Barry Fitzgerald, who won Best Supporting Actor for Going My Way in 1945. This was followed by Brenda Fricker in 1990, who won Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot, and most recently, Cillian Murphy’s Best Actor win for Oppenheimer in 2024.

President congratulates Irish winners

President Catherine Connolly congratulated Buckley and fellow Oscar winner Richard Baneham (for Best Visual Effects for Avatar: Fire and Ash) following their wins.

“As President of Ireland, may I offer my warmest congratulations to Jessie Buckley and Richard Baneham following their fantastic success in being awarded an Oscar at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony,” Connolly said.

This achievement is a thoroughly deserved testament not only to Jessie’s outstanding performance in Hamnet, but to her performances both in film and on stage across her career to date. I know that her proud community in Kerry and beyond will be sharing with her in this wonderful achievement.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has congratulated Buckley on her “historic Oscars success” in a post on X. 

Congratulations Jessie Buckley on your historic Oscar success!

A well deserved win too for Richard Baneham on a wonderful night for Irish film and the performing arts. ☘️☘️ pic.twitter.com/tOC9q5JJo4

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 16, 2026

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Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan also congratulated Buckley, calling her win “a magnificent achievement and a moment of real pride for Ireland”.

“Her performance has captivated audiences worldwide, and this award is a testament to her extraordinary talent, dedication and artistic courage,” he said in a statement.

“Jessie continues to represent the very best of Irish creativity on the global stage.”

Born in Killarney, Buckley spent five years studying at an all-girls convent school before going on to join the BBC talent show I’d Do Anything in 2008, aged 17.

The show documented the search for a new lead to play Nancy in the West End revival of the musical Oliver!. Buckley finished second in the contest, losing out to Coronation Street star Jodie Prenger.

She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Rada) in London and graduated with a BA in acting in 2013.

Her stage career kicked off that same year with the star performing at Shakespeare’s Globe in a production of The Tempest before starring alongside The Holiday actor Jude Law in a West End production of Henry V.

She later starred in the TV series adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace in 2016, portraying Marya Bolkonskaya, and made her film debut a year later in Michael Pearce’s psychological thriller Beast alongside Emma actor Johnny Flynn.

She later starred in Wild Rose (2018), a coming-of-age musical drama about a troubled single mother of two and former convict, Rose-Lynn from Glasgow, who tries to follow her dream of becoming a country singer – a role which won her the 2019 Scottish Bafta for best actress.

She also has a string of TV credits including playing Lyudmilla Ignatenko in the 2019 HBO drama Chernobyl and later starred in the hit series Fargo as Oraetta Mayflower.

In 2022, Buckley won the Laurence Olivier Award for best actress in a musical for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in Cabaret.