Jessie Buckley wins Best Actress at Oscars for Hamnet role

Jessie Buckley, an Irish actor, won the Academy Award for Best Actress on Sunday for her role in Hamnet at the 98th Oscars held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Buckley received the award for playing Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, in the film directed by Chloé Zhao. The film was based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell and focuses on the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet.

Accepting the award on stage, Buckley thanked the other nominees and reflected on the moment. “This is really something,” she said, adding that she hoped to work with the other nominees in the future.

Buckley won the category ahead of Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Renate Reinsive for Sentimental Value, Emma Stone for Bugonia, and Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue.

Speaking earlier about the character Agnes, Buckley described the role and the story’s focus on motherhood and grief. “The bewitching Agnes has a strong, wide open heart and a mother with an epic landscape inside her,” she told The Irish Times.

Buckley had earlier won several awards during the film awards season, including the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics Choice Awards for the same role.

Born on December 28, 1989, Buckley grew up in Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. Her father, Tim Buckley, is a poet, while her mother Marina, worked as an opera singer and vocal coach. She has said that growing up in that environment shaped her interest in performance.

“At home, music, writing and expressing yourself was really nurtured and respected,” she said.

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Buckley first appeared on television in 2008 on the BBC talent show I’d Do Anything, which searched for a performer for the musical Oliver in London’s West End. Although she finished as runner-up, the judges encouraged her to study acting.

She later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 2013. After graduation, she appeared in stage productions including Henry V and The Winter’s Tale. Her television work includes roles in the BBC adaptation of War and Peace and the HBO miniseries Chernobyl.

Buckley made her film debut in Beast in 2017. She later received a BAFTA nomination for her role in Wild Rose, a film about a country singer from Glasgow.

In 2022, she received her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role in The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Buckley has also worked in theatre and music. She won an Olivier Award in 2022 for her role as Sally Bowles in the West End production of Cabaret. That year, she released a folk album with Bernard Butler, a former guitarist of the band Suede.

Buckley lives in Norfolk, England, with her husband, whom she married in 2023. She gave birth to a daughter in autumn 2025.

During the Oscars press room event, Buckley was seen greeting Best Actor winner Michael B. Jordan, who won the award for his role in Sinners.

Her current film project is The Bride!, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, where she appears alongside Christian Bale.