{"id":329268,"date":"2026-03-14T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329268\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T11:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:27:09","slug":"everyone-will-tune-in-shes-one-of-our-own-jessie-buckleys-home-town-abuzz-before-oscars-jessie-buckley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329268\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everyone will tune in \u2013 she\u2019s one of our own\u2019: Jessie Buckley\u2019s home town abuzz before Oscars | Jessie Buckley"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Jessie Buckley wins the Oscar for best actress on Sunday night, County Kerry will need no further proof of a cherished truism: to be born in this corner of Ireland<\/a> really is the greatest gift that God can bestow. The award would be for Buckley\u2019s performance in Hamnet<\/a>, but for Killarney, her home town in the county nicknamed the Kingdom, credit will stretch back to her childhood, when she acted in local plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cHollywood here we come!\u201d proclaimed the newspaper Kerry\u2019s Eye, underlining a sense that Buckley\u2019s path to Hollywood for the 98th Academy Awards<\/a> has been a collective journey propelled by her talent, determination and roots.<\/p>\n

It was the writer John B Keane<\/a> who, tongue in cheek, described Kerry heritage as a divine gift with \u201cawesome responsibility\u201d \u2013 an opinion that will appear validated if Buckley becomes the first Irish woman to win the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone will tune in \u2013 she\u2019s one of our own,\u201d said Sinead Van Bladel, a supermarket worker who had made Buckley masks for her colleagues.<\/p>\n

Sinead Van Bladel shows a video of a colleague wearing a Jessie Buckley mask. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Bookies rate Buckley as the runaway favourite \u2013 ahead of Rose Byrne, Emma Stone, Kate Hudson and Renate Reinsve \u2013 for her depiction of William Shakespeare\u2019s wife, Agnes Hathaway, in the film version of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s novel.<\/p>\n

The only Irish women to have won acting Oscars are Brenda Fricker<\/a> in 1990, for best supporting actress in My Left Foot, and Maureen O\u2019Hara<\/a>, who received an honorary Oscar in 2014.<\/p>\n

For Buckley\u2019s family and friends, an unspoken question haunts the excitement: what if she doesn\u2019t win? \u201cOh God, the disappointment. We\u2019d of course still be proud but can you imagine the anticlimax?\u201d said one. She declined to be named. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be blamed for putting a hex on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radio Kerry<\/a> offered a \u20ac1,000 (\u00a3864) prize for the most creative good luck messages, prompting a wave of songs, iced buns, plaques, poems, sand art, coffee foam and crocheted wall hangings.<\/p>\n

A group of children with special needs each chose a word to express how Buckley made them feel. \u201cBrave,\u201d said one. \u201cInspired,\u201d said another. \u201cSeen,\u201d said a third. Miche\u00e1l Martin, the taoiseach, recorded a message.<\/p>\n

The result will fuel or dampen St Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations. If an Oscar completes Buckley\u2019s sweep of acting awards<\/a>, some in Killarney think Ireland should declare a new bank holiday. Others suggest she should receive the freedom of Kerry, plus free beer in every bar.<\/p>\n

A mural of Buckley in her home town of Killarney. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Well-wishers and TV crews have flocked to the Arbutus hotel, established by Buckley\u2019s great-grandparents and still owned by the family. \u201cIt\u2019s all go, all week,\u201d said Denis O\u2019Connor, a bartender. \u201cIt\u2019s great for Kerry and great for the young \u2013 she\u2019s a role model. For all her movies, she never forgot her roots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol Dempsey, an aunt of Buckley, said the adjacent Buckley\u2019s bar would close to the public at 7pm on Sunday so relatives and close friends could gather inside and follow events in Los Angeles. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a media spectacle for us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to celebrate the essence of Jessie and this moment. We want to enjoy the loveliness that it is. We\u2019re not shouters, we like to whisper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dempsey said that, whether she won or lost, Buckley would continue to excel at and enjoy her craft. \u201cAccolades are important but they\u2019re not everything,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a lovely phrase that I feel really encapsulates the essence of Jessie. While many feel that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we feel that for Jessie it\u2019s in the heart of the possessor.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the tourist office, Finola White, who has created a gallery of Buckley images, marvelled at a Vogue photoessay of the star in baroque outfits. \u201cThe clothes are amazing, but she still looks like Jessie.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Fitzgerald, centre, and friends discuss Buckley\u2019s Oscar chances at Buckley\u2019s bar in Killarney, County Kerry. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Siblings and parents have joined Buckley in LA. Coming from a musical family, she may have been destined for the arts, but according to local lore, a production of Jesus Christ Superstar almost sabotaged that. Aged about seven, she believed the man on the cross had died and was so distraught she was taken backstage to meet the actor.<\/p>\n

Teachers at her school described her as \u201cgr\u00e1mhar\u201d \u2013 full of heart, always volunteering for sport, singing and dancing. Buckley performed at the local musical society, came second in a BBC talent show and trained at London\u2019s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, leading to TV and film roles.<\/p>\n

John Fitzgerald, 65, sipping a pint at Buckley\u2019s bar, said being from Kerry gave her an edge, but so, too, did dedication to her craft. \u201cShe\u2019s been on the go for 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Jessie Buckley wins the Oscar for best actress on Sunday night, County Kerry will need no further…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-329268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}