Jessie Buckley is back in the spotlight thanks to her critically acclaimed performance in the historical drama Hamnet. Starring opposite Paul Mescal, the Irish actor plays William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes (also called Anne Hathaway), for which she has earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture—Drama.
Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling 2020 novel of the same name, the film reimagines Shakespeare and Hathaway’s life following the tragic loss of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. But portraying Hathaway was more than just a part for Buckley—it was a transformative learning experience.
“What was revealed to me through her [Agnes] was a tenderness that I didn’t know I needed to learn and live in. And that tenderness has changed me,” she said at the movie’s London Film Festival premiere in October. “It really reminded me of how potent and powerful storytelling can be. And it's kind of set a bar, like, I only want to make films that are as brave and as human as this from now on.”
Before her role in Hamnet, the 35-year-old first gained recognition for her versatile roles and emotionally charged performances in films like The Lost Daughter and Women Talking, as well as the TV series Chernobyl and Fargo.
Here’s what else you should know about Jessie Buckley.
Part of Biography.com’s special coverage of Hamnet, exploring how the 2025 film reimagines Shakespeare’s family, grief, and the world that shaped his work.
Buckley competed on a British talent show
Buckley began her career as a contestant on BBC talent show I’d Do Anything in 2008 at 18 years old. Competing for the chance to play Nancy in a West End revival of the musical Oliver!, the young actor finished in second place. While she was offered the opportunity to be Nancy’s understudy, she turned it down and soon made her West End debut in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music later that year.
She got her start as a Shakespeare actor
From there, Buckley embarked on a successful career on the stage. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2013, she went on to perform at Shakespeare’s Globe, a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, playing Miranda in The Tempest, and appeared in another production, Henry V, in the West End. Two years later, Buckley took on the role of Perdita in a 2015 revival of The Winter’s Tale.
Her breakout was role was in Wild Rose
She soon made her feature film debut in the 2017 psychological thriller Beast before landing her breakout role in the 2018 musical film Wild Rose, in which she portrayed a Scottish mother who pursues her dream of becoming a country singer after getting out of prison.
“The minute I read the script, I just was so excited and unnerved, and thrilled by this boisterous, flawed, human, raw, courageous young mother,” Buckley told Time magazine in June 2019. “Rose is so alive and so human and real. All of the women in the film were breaking outside of the four walls of where they were told they were allowed to exist in and dream in.” For her performance, she earned a 2020 BAFTA nomination for Best Leading Actress.
Buckley was nominated for an Oscar
After appearing in Chernobyl (2019) and Fargo (2020), Buckley returned to Shakespeare in a 2021 TV movie adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, alongside British actor Josh O’Connor. That same year, she played the younger version of Olivia Colman’s Leda in the Maggie Gyllenhaal film The Lost Daughter, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. To Buckley’s luck, it was Colman who suggested her for the role in the first place.
“I have no idea what Olivia saw in me,” she told Vanity Fair in March 2022. “We had a very fun night out at a festival the summer before [filming] and sang Adele and Amy Winehouse in an Airstream ’til 7:00 in the morning, so maybe it was my karaoke that made her think I fit the bill.”
She’s going to play Frankenstein’s Bride
Looking ahead, Buckley is set to star in another Gyllenhaal film, playing the titular character in The Bride!, inspired by the 1935 horror movie Bride of Frankenstein. Set in 1930s Chicago, the film sees a mad scientist create a companion for Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) by bringing a murdered woman back to life. The Bride! is set to arrive in theaters March 2026.
Catherine Caruso joined the Biography.com staff in August 2024, having previously worked as a freelance journalist for several years. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied English literature. When she’s not working on a new story, you can find her reading, hitting the gym, or watching too much TV.
