Fresh off her Best Actress win at the 2026 Academy Awards for Hamnet, Jessie Buckley spoke about the emotional weight of the moment, which coincided with both Mother’s Day in the UK and Ireland and her own first year as a mother.
Buckley, who became the first Irish woman to win Best Actress, described the convergence of personal and professional milestones as surreal. “It feels like some kind of crazy alchemy that all of these things are colliding on a day like today,” she said. “My daughter got her first tooth this week. I woke up with her lying on my chest, snuggling me.”
The actress plays Agnes, a mother navigating profound love and grief in Hamnet, a role she said took on even deeper meaning as her own life changed. “What a gift to get to explore motherhood through this incredible mother that Agnes is and was, and then to become one myself,” Buckley said. “To receive this recognition of the incredible role mothers play in our world on this day is something I will never forget.”
Back home, celebrations were underway across Kerry, Killarney and Ireland, where fans stayed up through the night to watch the ceremony. Buckley encouraged them to keep the celebration going. “Don’t go to bed, keep partying,” she said with a laugh. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
She also reflected on the importance of having her family by her side for the milestone moment. “To be here tonight with all my family who’ve literally flown in from New Zealand and Australia and Kerry and Dublin, that makes it real,” Buckley said. “They’re the people who built me.”
While the Oscar win marks a career high, Buckley said the role of Agnes will stay with her long after the awards season ends.
“I think all my roles stay with me, but this one cracked a kind of tenderness in me,” she said. “Sometimes if you’re a strong woman, you’re perceived as just being strong, but actually tenderness is as vibrant and strong as strength.”
Buckley added that the character’s ability to hold both strength and vulnerability left a lasting impact. “To know that through this woman, she was able to hold strength and vulnerability and grief and love in all its epic colors,” she said. “Why would you ever want to let that go? It’s something I want to hold on to for the rest of my life.”
The win for Hamnet capped an emotional night for Buckley, blending career recognition with a deeply personal celebration of motherhood.
REELated:
One Battle After Another wins Best Picture at 2026 Oscars
