PREVIEW

Jessie Buckley becomes first Irish winner of Best Actress at 2026 Academy Awards. During the ceremony in Los Angeles, previous winner Mikey Madison presented the Killarney-born actress with the Oscar for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare in the period drama Hamnet. Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film is an adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel, which dramatises the life of William Shakespeare. To begin, Buckley thanked her fellow nominees - Emma Stone for Bugonia, Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, and Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value. "Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside," she smiled. "I am inspired by your art and your heart, and I want to work with every single one of you.”. With the win, Buckley shared that officials from her home nation had paid for her family to attend the annual prizegiving. In addition, The Lost Daughter star credited her parents for "teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectation but to carve from your own passion”. Elsewhere in the heartfelt speech, Buckley referenced her partner, Fred, and their baby daughter, Isla. "I love you, and I love being your mum, and I can't wait to discover life beside you," the 36-year-old continued, before giving a shout-out to Zhao and O’Farrell and noting that the "journey to understand the capacity of a mother of love is the greatest collision of my life”. To conclude, Buckley pointed out that it was rather poignant that it was Mothering Sunday in the U.K. this week. "So, I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continued to create against all odds. Thank you for recognising me in this role. This is the greatest honour. I can't even believe it.”.
Instructions: THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT