Jessie Buckley just made Oscars history. The 36-year-old star ofHamnetis the first Irish actress to take home the Best Actress trophy at the Academy Awards, and just the second Irishwoman to ever win an acting award.
"Wow. Thank you so much—this is really something," Buckley said in her acceptance speech. "Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside, I am inspired by your heart and your art and I want to work with every single one of you. To the producers who created this ship for us to stand in, and my shipmates for life… none of this is possible with you. My family, my Irish family is all here, Ireland bought them flights! Mom, dad, thank you for teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectations and care for your own passion."
"You…" she continued,pointing to her husband, Fred. "I love you man, you're the most incredible dad and the best man and I want to have 20,000 babies with you. And Isla, my little girl who is eight months… this is kind of a big deal. I can't wait to discover life beside you."
She ended, "Chloe and Maggie, to get to know this incandescent woman, and journey to understand the capacity of a mother's love is the greatest collision of my love. It's Mother's Day in the UK today, so 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. Thank you for recognizing me in this role. This is the greatest honor."
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"I've seen the movie several times and each time I just sit there in awe of the work and then I have to pinch myself and say, 'That's my little girl up there,'" Buckley's mom, Marina Cassidy, said on RTE Radio 1 in January. "I just marvel at how she and all of the cast make it so real. It's so real and so believable. You nearly forget you're watching a movie."
Cassidy added, "She has remained herself and she is totally committed and dedicated to her art form. And I just think, 'What a wonderful role model', both herself and Paul Mescal as two young, very successful Irish actors are."
Before tonight, Brenda Fricker was the only Irish-born actress to win an Oscar, winning Best Supporting Actress for her role inMy Left Footin 1989. Buckley was first nominated at the Academy Awards in 2022 for Best Supporting Actress for her performance inThe Lost Daughter, but lost that year toAriana DeBose inWest Side Story.
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