Jessie Buckley

Jessie Buckley (born December 28, 1989, Killarney, Ireland) is an Irish actress and singer, best known for her performance as Agnes (Anne) Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, in the film Hamnet (2025), for which she won the Academy Award for best actress. Buckley began her career on the BBC talent show I’d Do Anything in 2008 and has since built a formidable reputation on stage and screen, including for her roles in the acclaimed miniseries Chernobyl (2019), a 2016 BBC TV adaptation of War and Peace, and the films Wild Rose (2018) and The Lost Daughter (2021).

Early life

Buckley, the eldest of five children, was born in Killarney, Ireland, to Tim Buckley, a hotel bar manager who published poetry, and Marina Cassidy, a vocal coach and music psychotherapist who also sang professionally and played the harp. The Buckley family had no television, and Jessie Buckley grew up acting in school musicals, including playing the male lead in West Side Story, and learning music—including the harp, piano, saxophone, and clarinet—at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM). In 2001 she received a RIAM High Achiever Award.

At age 17 Buckley applied unsuccessfully to drama schools before choosing to audition for the BBC talent show I’d Do Anything in 2008, with the goal of being cast as Nancy in the West End revival of Oliver!, a musical adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Although Buckley finished as the runner-up to actress Jodie Prenger and later turned down an offer to be Prenger’s understudy, her performance impressed the judges Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who urged her to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and participate in a four-week-long William Shakespeare course. Buckley received a bachelor’s degree from RADA in 2013.

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Acting career and transition from theater to screen

Buckley played the role of Anne Egerman in the 2008 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical A Little Night Music, and she continued with stage roles after graduating from RADA. In 2013 she played Miranda in The Tempest and Princess Katharine in Henry V, opposite Jude Law, both works by Shakespeare. In 2015 Buckley appeared alongside Judi Dench in The Winter’s Tale.

She first appeared on the small screen as an episodic character in the TV shows This September (2010–11) and Endeavour (2014), followed by an appearance in a podcast episode of Doctor Who (2015). In 2016 her performance as Marya Bolkonskaya in a TV miniseries adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace was well received. She shared the screen with actor Tom Hardy in the 2017 TV series Taboo, before her film debut in Beast the same year. Buckley then appeared in the miniseries The Last Post (2017) and The Woman in White (2018), the latter based on a novel by Wilkie Collins.

Her portrayal of an aspiring country music star who has just been released from a Glasgow, Scotland, prison in the 2018 film Wild Rose is considered her breakthrough performance; the film allowed Buckley to showcase her acting and singing talent, and she was nominated for a BAFTA Award. She gained further exposure after appearing in the acclaimed miniseries Chernobyl (2019), a dramatization of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union. She also played Queen Victoria in the 2020 film Dolittle, starring Robert Downey, Jr.

In 2020 Buckley appeared in the fourth season of the TV series Fargo as the serial killer nurse Oraetta Mayflower. She listened to recordings of people from Minnesota to prepare for the character’s American Upper Midwest accent and worked with a movement coach to perfect the character’s style of walking. Also in 2020 she appeared opposite Jesse Plemons in the Charlie Kaufman psychological horror film I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

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Worldwide fame

Buckley starred as Leda, a writer struggling with the challenges of motherhood (Olivia Colman played the older version of the character), in the film The Lost Daughter (2021), based on the novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante. Buckley received Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for best supporting actress for her performance. The films that followed—Men (2022), Women Talking (2022), Fingernails (2023), and Wicked Little Letters (2023)—saw her appear in starring roles. Buckley returned to the theater in 2021, appearing in the West End revival of Cabaret opposite Eddie Redmayne. Her portrayal was a critical success, and she won the Olivier Award for best actress in a musical.

In 2025 Buckley starred in the Chloé Zhao-directed film Hamnet, playing Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal). The story follows the couple’s courtship, family life, and grief over the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. (Learn more in The Rest Is Speculation: Hamnet and the Question of Historical Accuracy.) Adapted from a 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell, the film won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025. Buckley won the best actress award in the drama category at the Golden Globes in January 2026. The performance later won her an Oscar and BAFTA for best actress.