Jessie Buckley

Jessie Buckley (born 28 December 1989) is an Irish actress and singer. Her accolades include a British Academy Film Award, an Actor Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Scottish BAFTA, and an Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards.

Buckley began her career in 2008 as a contestant on the BBC talent show I'd Do Anything, in which she came second. A RADA graduate, she made her early onscreen appearances in BBC television series such as War & Peace (2016) and Taboo (2017). Buckley made her film debut with the lead role in Beast (2017), followed by her breakout role as an aspiring country music singer in the musical film Wild Rose (2018); the latter earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Buckley's career progressed with starring roles in films such as I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), Men (2022), Women Talking (2022) and Wicked Little Letters (2023). For her performance as a troubled mother in the psychological drama The Lost Daughter (2021), she received nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She gained further recognition for her portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare in the period drama Hamnet (2025), receiving a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, and an Actor Award for Best Actress, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

On television, Buckley has starred in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019) and season four of Fargo (2020). On stage, Buckley's portrayal of Sally Bowles in a 2021 West End theatre revival of Cabaret won her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2022, she released the collaborative album For All Our Days That Tear the Heart with Bernard Butler, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Prize.

Buckley was born on 28 December 1989 in Killarney, County Kerry, to Marina (née Cassidy) and Tim Buckley. She has a younger brother and three younger sisters. She is the great-granddaughter of Irish republican Madge Clifford.

She attended Ursuline Secondary School, an all-girls convent school in Thurles, County Tipperary, where her mother works as a vocal coach and where she performed in school productions. She played a number of male roles at school, including the male lead role of Tony in the musical West Side Story and Freddie Trumper in Chess. 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.

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. In 2026, Buckley stated she felt "brutalized" and "objectified" during the show due to comments she received from the show’s judges, who subjected her to body shaming by making unpleasant jokes about her appearance in front of the cameras and even sending the then 17-year-old to "femininity school" in one of the episodes. In an interview with Vogue UK, Buckley said: "I really hope that a 15, 17, whatever-age woman never has to be brutalised quite like what happened on that show. But I didn't recognise it fully at the time. I just felt it, which was difficult."