Jessie Buckley Shares Her Hamnet Win on UK Mother’s Day at the Oscars

Jessie Buckley celebrated a remarkable milestone on Sunday night, winning the Best Actress Oscar for her powerful portrayal of Agnes in Focus Features’ Hamnet at the 98th Academy Awards.

Backstage at the Oscars, Buckley shared her reflections on the intertwining themes of motherhood and her award season experience. Notably, she became the first Irish actress to receive this prestigious accolade.

“It feels like some kind of crazy alchemy that all of these things are colliding on a day like today,” Buckley said. “My daughter got her first tooth this week. I woke up with her lying on my chest, snuggling me. And I feel like what a gift to get to explore motherhood through this incredible mother that Agnes is, and then to become one myself and then to receive this recognition of the incredible role mothers play in our world. This day is something I will never, ever forget.”

Before her Oscar win, Buckley had already garnered accolades from BAFTA, Critics Choice, the Golden Globes, and The Actor Awards, previously known as the SAG Awards.

Reflecting on her career, Buckley recalled her nomination for the role in The Lost Daughter in 2022. “I think all my roles stay with me. I don’t ever want to let go of the incredible women that have really given me an education that I’ve been looking for as a woman. But I think this role cracked a kind of tenderness in me that sometimes if you’re a strong woman, you’re perceived as just being strong, but actually tenderness is as vibrant and strong as strength. And I think to know that through [Agnes] where she was able to hold the capacity of strength and vulnerability and tenderness and grief and love in all its epic colors, I mean, why would I ever want to let that go?”