Jessie Buckley

Early life and education

Buckley was born on 28 December 1989 in Killarney, County Kerry, to Marina Cassidy and Tim Buckley. She has a younger brother and three younger sisters.

She attended Ursuline Secondary School, an all-girls convent school in Thurles, County Tipperary, where her mother works as a vocal coach She reached grade eight in piano, clarinet, and harp at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and was a member of the Tipperary Millennium Orchestra. She attended summer workshops with the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) to improve her singing and acting, and it was here that she was recognised as a talented actress and encouraged to apply for drama school in London. Just before she auditioned for I'd Do Anything, she was turned down by two drama schools, including one the day before her first audition for the show.

Buckley attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in January 2013.

Career

2008–2015: ''I'd Do Anything'' and theatrical productions

Buckley began her career as a contestant on I'd Do Anything, a talent show centred on the search for a new, unknown lead to play Nancy in the 2009 West End revival of the British musical Oliver!. She reached the final on 31 May 2008, finishing in second place behind Jodie Prenger. On 26 August 2008, Buckley performed on Denny Street in Tralee, County Kerry for RTÉ Radio 1. She followed this with a performance at a charity concert in County Tipperary. On 14 September 2008, Buckley performed at an outdoor concert in celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's birthday in Hyde Park, London. She gave a solo rendition of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, and sang "Light at the End of the Tunnel" from Starlight Express with fellow I'd Do Anything finalists Keisha Amponsa-Banson, Niamh Perry, Rachel Tucker, as well as Any Dream Will Do finalists Daniel Boys, Lewis Bradley, Ben James-Ellis and Keith Jack. On 18 September 2008, she and Aoife Mulholland performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at another event held by Lloyd Webber at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Buckley was offered the opportunity to understudy for the role of Nancy, but turned it down in favour of another production. On 10 October 2008, it was announced that Buckley would make her Off-West End debut in a revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, in the role of Anne Egerman, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a fringe Studio Theatre, in London from 22 November 2008 to 8 March 2009. She appeared alongside Maureen Lipman and Hannah Waddingham in the production, which was directed by Trevor Nunn. She appeared in a Christmas concert alongside Maria Friedman, Cantabile, and Tim Rice in 2009, and in February 2010 she appeared alongside Daniel Boys (and Night Music co-star Kelly Price) in a series of Valentine musical concerts.

After graduating from RADA in January 2013, In September 2013, Buckley appeared opposite Jude Law in Michael Grandage's West End production of Henry V at the Noël Coward Theatre. She also played Perdita in Kenneth Branagh's theatre company production of The Winter's Tale, which was streamed live to cinemas worldwide on 26 November 2015.

2016–2019: Breakthrough on screen

After an episodic appearance in the detective drama series Endeavour, Buckley portrayed Marya Bolkonskaya in BBC's new dramatisation of War and Peace (2016). She received acclaim for her performance, with Viv Groskop of The Guardian citing her performance as a highlight of episode two, writing that she plays this supposedly plain and pious character "beautifully". Buckley continued her television career with a main role in the drama series Taboo (2017), starring Tom Hardy. She also starred as Honor Martin in BBC One's drama The Last Post (2017), and as Marian Halcombe in the five-part television adaptation of Wilkie Collins' novel The Woman in White (2018).

Buckley made her film debut as Moll Huntford in the psychological thriller Beast (2018). She then starred in the country music drama Wild Rose (2018), which earned Buckley the opportunity to perform music from the film at the Glastonbury Festival. The official soundtrack from the film reached number one on the UK Country Albums Chart. The film received positive reviews, and her performance was rewarded with a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards.

In 2019, Buckley appeared as Lyudmila Ignatenko in the HBO and Sky UK historical drama mini-series Chernobyl, which revolved around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the clean-up efforts that followed. The five-part series was critically acclaimed, receiving 19 nominations at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards. Buckley then appeared in the biographical drama Judy, based on the life of American actress Judy Garland.

2020–present: Rise to prominence

In 2020, she had four releases: Dolittle, directed by Stephen Gaghan, The Courier, directed by Dominic Cooke, Misbehaviour, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, and the surrealist psychological thriller I'm Thinking of Ending Things, directed by Charlie Kaufman for Netflix. Her performance in the latter was lauded by critics and earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the 30th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. The same year, Buckley had a lead role in the fourth season of the FX black comedy crime drama Fargo, where she played nurse Oraetta Mayflower.

In 2021, Buckley starred as the younger version of Leda Caruso in Maggie Gyllenhaal's feature directorial debut The Lost Daughter, with Olivia Colman portraying the character's older counterpart. The film began a theatrical limited release in the United States on 17 December 2021, prior to streaming on Netflix at the end of the month. It received acclaim from critics. Critic Ty Burr believed that Buckley was a "revelation" in the film. For her performance, Buckley won a Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She also received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 94th Academy Awards.

Buckley was approached by Eddie Redmayne to star alongside him, as Sally Bowles, in a revival of the musical Cabaret. She embraced the gruelling nature of the role and maintained strict silence during the day to protect her voice for eight shows a week. The production opened to rave reviews in the West End in November 2021, winning Best Musical Revival and Buckley's own as Best Actress at the 2022 Olivier Awards. David Benedict, writing for Variety wrote that Buckley played Bowles "with astonishing fierceness." Nick Curtis, theatre critic for the Evening Standard, described Buckley as "a powerhouse of emotion".

On 15 April 2022, Buckley and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler released "The Eagle & The Dove", the lead single from their collaborative album. For All Our Days That Tear the Heart was released on 17 June 2022. It debuted at No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Prize.

In 2022, Buckley starred as a widowed woman who travels on holiday to a countryside village in Alex Garland's folk horror film Men, alongside Rory Kinnear. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section in May 2022, before being released in the United States on 20 May 2022 by A24. In June 2021, Buckley joined Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy and Ben Whishaw in Sarah Polley's feature adaptation of Miriam Toews' bestselling novel Women Talking, with MGM's Orion Pictures and Plan B Entertainment producing the film. The film began its limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada on 23 December 2022. In July 2022, Buckley joined Colman, Luke Evans, Jonathan Pryce and Johnny Flynn in Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, an animated rendition of the Charles Dickens' classic, which was released on Netflix in December 2022.

She reunited with Olivia Colman in Wicked Little Letters, a comedy directed by Thea Sharrock. Principal photography for the project occurred in autumn 2022 in the United Kingdom. That same year, it was announced that Buckley would replace Carey Mulligan as the lead in Christos Nikou's English-language feature film debut Fingernails. The film, co-starring Riz Ahmed and Jeremy Allen White, was shot in Toronto in late 2022. Both films premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

In May 2023, it was announced that Buckley would star alongside Paul Mescal in Chloé Zhao's historical drama Hamnet, based on the novel of the same name. Listed among the top ten films of 2025 by the American Film Institute, Hamnet received highly positive reviews from critics, with Buckley's performance garnering widespread acclaim. David Fear of Rolling Stone opined that people "will be talking about Jessie Buckley's performance for years" while Johnny Oleksinski at New York Post wrote that "it's Buckley who's giving one of those rare turns that simply beggars belief. She swings back and forth from cast iron to porcelain. The actress is thunderous, playful, grounded and ethereal." Buckley won the award for Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes for the role. Buckley additionally won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress. Buckley also received her second nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She next appeared opposite Tim Crouch in a performance of An Oak Tree at the Young Vic in London on 6 May 2025.

Personal life

Buckley lives in Norfolk . She married her husband Freddie Sorensen, a mental health worker and ex-TV producer, in mid-2023. In 2025, she gave birth to a baby girl.

Buckley is an ambassador for The Matt Talbot Community Trust, which provides support for individuals in recovery from addiction.

Performances and works

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

Discography

Collaborative albums

• For All Our Days That Tear the Heart (with Bernard Butler) (2022)

Soundtrack albums

• Wild Rose (2019)

Accolades and recognition

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Jessie Buckley

In 2026, Buckley was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture—Drama for her role as Agnes Shakespeare (Anne Hathaway) in the motion picture Hamnet. She was also nominated in the Best Actress category in the 2026 Academy Awards.

In 2019, she was recognised by Forbes in its annual 30 Under 30 list. In 2020, she was listed at number 38 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors of all time.

References

References

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3. She is the great-granddaughter of [[Irish republicanism. Irish republican]] [[Madge Clifford]].John O'Mahony, [https://www.killarneytoday.com/killarney-saddened-passing-dr-norrie-buckley/ 'Killarney saddened by passing of Dr Norrie Buckley']. ''Killarney Today'', 21 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2025
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