JESSIE BUCKLEY’S MOTHER, Marina, has said she is “so proud” of her daughter being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress today.

The Killarney native was named among the nominees for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, based on the book written by Irish author Maggie O’Farrell and which Buckley starred in alongside Kildare’s Paul Mescal.

This is Buckley’s second Oscar nomination, following her 2021 nod for The Lost Daughter. If she wins Best Actress, she will become the first Irish woman to receive the honour.

Speaking on Liveline on RTÉ Radio One today, Marina said she was “really thrilled” to receive the news.

“I’m actually currently in work, so I didn’t hear it firsthand – somebody told me. I’m so proud of her because this is the culmination of a lifetime, years and years of work,” Marina said.

“It’s so wonderful that it’s been recognised now. I am just really thrilled. What an achievement for all of them.”

Marina, a music psychotherapist in palliative care, was formerly a harpist and singer and Buckley previously praised the emotional impact of her mother’s performances.

Marina said she has seen Hamnet – which received eight Oscar nominations in total today – several times.

“Each time I just sit there I am in awe of the work, and I have to pinch myself and say that’s my little girl up there,” she said.

“I just marvel at how she and the rest of the cast make it so real and believable; you forget that you’re watching a movie.”

Teacher Mary Butler also appeared on the show, where she remembered conducting and directing Buckley in a school play in Thurles, Co Tipperary in 2006.

She said Buckley was a “founding member” of the choir and also starred in the school’s production of West Side Story.

Butler described Buckley as “spellbinding”.

“You couldn’t take your eyes off Jessie, even at that very young age, that depth of emotional maturity in her performance was like nothing I’d ever seen”, she said.

“People in Thurles are still talking about her performance of Maria in West Side Story.”