However, there was disappointment for Paul Mescal, who had hopes of scoring a nomination in Best Supporting Actor for his role in the same film.
This is Buckley’s second Oscar nomination after the Kerry actor was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 2021 drama The Lost Daughter.
She lost out to Ariana DeBose in West Side Story on that occasion at the 94th Academy Awards, but this time Buckley is seen as the overwhelming favourite to take home the Best Actress Oscar on March 15.
This time out, Buckley faces competition for the Oscar from Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Emma Stone (Bugonia), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value).
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 11: Jessie Buckley accepts the Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Award for “Hamnet” onstage during the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 11, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/CBS via Getty Images)
Jessie Buckley’s Top-Five Roles
Hamnet stars Buckley as Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare also known historically as Anne Hathaway, and Mescal as Shakespeare.
There is even more cause for celebration for the Irish with Bugonia, co-produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Irish production company Element Pictures, nominated for Best Picture.
For Best Supporting Actor, Mescal lost out to Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro (both One Battle After Another), Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value), Delroy Lindo (Sinners) and Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein).
The Oscar nomination for Hamnet comes after a number of significant wins for Buckley for the role, including the Golden Globe for Best Female Actor in a Motion Picture Drama and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress.
The film is adapted from the novel of the same name written by Irish author Maggie O’Farrell and gives a fictional account of Shakespeare and Hathaway’s lives in the wake of the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet.
O’Farrell wrote the screenplay alongside the film’s director Chloe Zhao, and now she too is an Irish Oscar nominee with the film nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Tallaght native Richard Baneham, a two-time Oscar winner for his work on the first two instalments in the Avatar franchise, has picked up another nomination, with Avatar: Fire and Ash up for Best Visual Effects.
In Best Animated Short, Retirement Plan by Irish animator John Kelly, narrated by Domhnall Gleeson, has been nominated. Éiru, from Kilkenny-based studio Cartoon Saloon, was shortlisted but missed out on a nomination.
Two Irishmen were shortlisted for Best Cinematography – Robbie Ryan for Bugonia and Seamus McGarvey for Die My Love – however both have missed out.
Hamnet, which has gained significant buzz this awards season after its success at the Golden Globes, has also been nominated for Best Picture, and Best Director for Zhao.
It has also been nominated for Best Casting, the first new competitive Oscars category since the introduction of Best Animated Feature in 2001.
Should Buckley win, it will finally mean an Irish person has won in every acting category at the Oscars – no Irish actor has yet won Best Actress, while Daniel Day-Lewis and Cillian Murphy have won for Best Actor and Brenda Fricker won Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot.
The lone Irish win for Best Supporting Actor came in 1944 when Barry Fitzgerald won for Going My Way.
Fitzgerald has the unique distinction of being the only person to be nominated for both the lead and supporting acting categories for the same role in the same film.
The Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with American comedian Conan O’Brien returning as host.