Who is Saoirse Ronan?

Saoirse Ronan (born April 12, 1994) is an Irish-American actress known for portraying the complex inner lives of her characters. Born in the Bronx, New York, to Irish parents, her father, Paul Ronan, was an actor. The family moved back to Dublin when she was three. Ronan began acting at a young age, appearing in a television series at nine and making her film debut in 2007. Her role in Atonement (2007) earned her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress at only 13. She has since starred in The Lovely Bones (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Little Women (2019), receiving multiple Academy Award nominations. In 2018, she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance in Lady Bird (2017).

Where was Saoirse Ronan born and what is her nationality?

Saoirse Ronan was born in the Bronx, New York. She is an Irish-American actress recognized for portraying the complex inner lives of her characters. Her father, Paul Ronan, an actor, moved the family back to Dublin three years after her birth. Saoirse studied acting and debuted in Amy Heckerling’s 2007 comedy, I Could Never Be Your Woman . Her role in Atonement , released the same year, earned her an Academy Award nomination at age 13. Ronan has since starred in films such as The Lovely Bones , The Grand Budapest Hotel , and Little Women , earning three more Academy Award nominations. She won a Golden Globe for her performance in the 2017 comedy Lady Bird .

What was Saoirse Ronan's first major film role?

Saoirse Ronan's first major film role was in Atonement (2007), although she debuted in Amy Heckerling’s 2007 comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman . Her role in Atonement drew attention to her acting skills, earning her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress at only 13. Ronan has since starred in other films, including The Lovely Bones (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Little Women (2019), earning three more Academy Award nominations. She won a Golden Globe for her performance in the 2017 comedy Lady Bird .

What are some famous movies Saoirse Ronan has starred in?

Saoirse Ronan, born in the Bronx, New York, on April 12, 1994, is an Irish-American actress known for her ability to portray complex characters. Ronan gained considerable attention for her acting skills after appearing in Atonement (2007), which earned her an Academy Award nomination at the age of 13. She has since starred in many films, including The Lovely Bones (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Brooklyn (2015), Lady Bird (2017), and Little Women (2019). For Lady Bird , she won a Golden Globe for best performance by an actress.

Has Saoirse Ronan ever been nominated for or won any awards?

Saoirse Ronan , born in the Bronx, New York, on April 12, 1994, is an Irish-American actress known for her ability to portray the complex inner lives of her characters. Ronan has received multiple Academy Award nominations for films such as Atonement (2007), Brooklyn (2015), Lady Bird (2017), and Little Women (2019). In 2018, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her performance in Lady Bird .

Saoirse Ronan

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Images

Saoirse Ronan wearing a brown cable-knit dress with a brown and white polka dot scarf and blouse, standing outdoors with a soft smile.

Saoirse Ronan as Mary Queen of Scots, wearing a blue gown and armor, rides a black horse at the head of an armed procession in a forest scene from the film Mary Queen of Scots.

Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan, and Eliza Scanlen dressed in period clothing and straw hats stand on a sandy beach holding baskets in a scene from Little Women (2019).

Saoirse Ronan as Lady Bird stands in a church receiving ashes on her forehead from a priest, with other students in school uniforms lined up behind her in the 2017 film Lady Bird.

Quick Facts

In full:: Saoirse Una Ronan

Born:: April 12, 1994, Bronx, New York, U.S. (age 32)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "The Secret World of Arrietty" (2010); "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" (2007); "Robot Chicken" (2014); "The Lovely Bones" (2009); "Stockholm, Pennsylvania" (2015); "On Chesil Beach" (2017); "Byzantium" (2012); "Little Women" (2019); "Death Defying Acts" (2007); "Weepah Way for Now" (2015); "Atonement" (2007); "Loving Vincent" (2017); "Justin and the Knights of Valour" (2013); "How I Live Now" (2013); "The Way Back" (2010); "Hanna" (2011); "Mary Queen of Scots" (2018); "The Seagull" (2018); "Brooklyn" (2015); "Lost River" (2014); "Violet & Daisy" (2011); "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014); "I Could Never Be Your Woman" (2007); "City of Ember" (2008); "The Clinic" (2003–2004); "Lady Bird" (2017); "Proof" (2005); "The Host" (2013)

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Saoirse Ronan

Irish-American actress

Also known as: Saoirse Una Ronan

Written by

Patricia Bauer

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Childhood

During an economic downturn in the 1980s, Ronan’s parents left Dublin and became undocumented immigrants in the United States. They settled in New York City, where her mother worked as a nanny and her father worked in construction and as a bartender; he later was a stage actor. Ronan was born in 1994, and, when she was three years old, the family moved back to Ireland. They settled in the small village of Ardattin in County Carlow, and Ronan attended Ardattin National School for a time but was largely homeschooled. Her career began when she appeared as a child in a story arc (2003–04) in the medical TV series The Clinic. In 2005 she acted in the crime series Proof.

Early films: Atonement and The Lovely Bones

Ronan made her film debut in Amy Heckerling’s romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman, filmed in 2005 but not released until 2007. However, her true arrival was her portrayal of 13-year-old Briony Tallis, who misunderstands her older sister’s romance and tells a lie that destroys several lives, in Atonement (2007), based on the novel by Ian McEwan. For her performance, Ronan was nominated for an Academy Award.

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She next appeared in two lesser films, the period drama Death Defying Acts (2007) and the sci-fi children’s adventure City of Ember (2008). More notable was Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones (2009), the film adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel about a murdered girl who watches her family and killer from the afterlife; Ronan earned a BAFTA nomination for best actress. After a supporting role in the escape drama The Way Back (2010), she won widespread praise for her riveting portrayal of a teenage girl raised in isolation and trained as a self-sufficient assassin by her father in Hanna (2011). Her next few films failed critically and at the box office, though she had a supporting role as a hotel maid in Wes Anderson’s acclaimed ensemble comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

Brooklyn, Lady Bird, and Little Women

Ronan’s understated and sensitive performance in the lead role in Brooklyn (2015)—based on Colm Tóibín’s lyrical novel about a young Irish woman who emigrates to Brooklyn and is then called home to Ireland—was evocative and absorbing and earned her a best-actress Oscar nomination. She made her Broadway debut in 2016, starring in an acclaimed production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Ronan earned a third Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a teen girl trying to transcend her small-town life in Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical Lady Bird (2017).

More praise followed for her performance as Nina in The Seagull, the film version of Anton Chekhov’s play, and as the ill-fated title character in Mary Queen of Scots (both 2018). Ronan earned another Oscar nod when she portrayed the strong-minded and tomboyish Jo March in Gerwig’s highly praised Little Women (2019). She later starred with Kate Winslet in the period romance Ammonite (2020). In 2021 Ronan reunited with Anderson on The French Dispatch, and she later appeared in the 1950s whodunit See How They Run (2022). After these comedies, Ronan shifted gears—and earned some of the best reviews of her career—with The Outrun, a drama about a recovering alcoholic who moves back home.