Jessie Buckley Levels Cillian Murphy Bringing Irish Glory to Oscars With Best Lead Acting Honors

Published 03/16/2026, 10:22 AM EDT

Jessie Buckley turned awards season into her personal dominion, sweeping critics and voters alike with her powerhouse performance in Hamnet. Buckley’s Agnes proved devastatingly subtle yet powerfully human, prompting tearful audiences and critics scrambling for adjectives beyond 'brilliant.'. Her performance proved that grief, when rendered with such precision, can command a stage, and an awards calendar.

In a sweet turn of events, she crowned her run at the Oscars and slipped seamlessly into the exclusive club Cillian Murphy began.

How Jessie Buckley and Cillian Murphy are heralding a new era of Irish Oscar glory

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Jessie Buckley not only sealed her clean sweep of the awards season by winning the Best Actress Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards, but also made history. The victory crowned Jessie Buckley as the first Irish woman to win Best Actress, joining Cillian Murphy as Ireland’s only Oscar-winning actors in the category.

Much like Jessie Buckley, Cillian Murphy dominated awards season with his portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. He became the first Irish man to achieve such a sweep, and it seems Buckley was eager to follow suit, copying history with style and Oscar-winning flair. Murphy is likely toasting Jessie Buckley’s Oscar win as heartily as his own, recalling the joy of handing her the BAFTA and raving about her Hamnet performance.

Jessie Buckley’s Oscar feels even sweeter because she triumphed with Hamnet, an Irish-led production through and through. With Buckley and Paul Mescal headlining and Maggie O’Farrell’s Irish novel at its heart, the win doubles as a celebration of Irish talent both in front of and behind the camera.

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Jessie Buckley might be plotting a small nation of 20,000 children with her husband, post-Oscars, but her fans need not fear a dearth of new projects.

Jessie Buckley projects to catch after her Oscar triump

Jessie Buckley haunts the silver screen once more in The Bride, released March 6, 2026. As a resurrected young woman in 1930s Chicago, she dazzles under Maggie Gyllenhaal’s direction, paired with Christian Bale as a brooding Frankenstein’s monster. Post-Oscar, she proves that charm and menace are merely two sides of the same coin.

Next on her roster is Three Incestuous Sisters, with Josh O’Connor and Dakota Johnson. The project promises complex familial dynamics and dark humor, offering fans a chance to witness her transformative range in a modern, provocative narrative.

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Her artistry leaps beyond cinema with 20th Century Paddy- The Songs of Shane MacGowan. Dropping November 13, 2026, Buckley will join the likes of Hozier and Bruce Springsteenfor a tribute to the late Pogues frontman, proving she can command a microphone as effortlessly as a camera, adding musical virtuosity to her ever-expanding repertoire.

Jessie Buckley Net Worth 2026: How Rich Is 2026’s 'Hamnet' Sensation Hunting Oscar Glory

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Could Jessie Buckley and Cillian Murphy be the opening act for an Irish Oscars invasion? Let us know in the comments!

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Iffat Siddiqui

837 articles

Iffat is an Entertainment Journalist at Netflix Junkie. A word wizard, she had the sorting hat smoke at the seams owing to her excellence in everything Hollywood and cinema until it finally declared that she belonged to the Royals, specifically Meghan Markle. Boasting over 300 articles (and counting), each one tastefully infused with the right mix of facts, wit, opinion, and essentially everything to make a perfect pop culture piece, she is the epitome of a trustworthy entertainment journalist.

Edited By: Hriddhi Maitra

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