‘This is her time’: Buncrana theatre director backs Jessie Buckley to win the Oscar

An Inishowen theatre director and producer is backing Jessie Buckley to make history by becoming the first Irish woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress next month.

The 36-year-old screen star has already scooped the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor for her spell-binding role as Agnes Shakespeare [Anne Hathaway] in the widely-acclaimed ‘Hamnet’.

And Buncrana’s Donall Henderson says he has “no doubt” that the hotly-tipped Buckley will take the Academy Award this time too, four years after she was last nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Lost Daughter.

“I have no doubt she will win the Oscar this time around, and she really deserves it, because she works very hard,” he said.

“She narrowly missed out in 2022, but I believe this is her time.”

Donall first met Buckley in her hometown of Killarney almost eighteen years ago, and he recalls how she couldn’t have been more encouraging.

“I first met Jessie at the AIMS Awards in June 2008. This was during my time with Fortwilliam Musical Society, Belfast. We were nominated for awards with Calamity Jane at that time (I played the role of Lt. Danny Gilmartin).”

“At the time, we were just embarking on the establishment of Greasepaint Productions and staging Oliver!, while Jessie had just finished recording ‘I'd Do Anything’. She was really lovely, very humble and seemed pleased to be back in the embrace of ‘theatre people’ in her hometown,” Donall said.

If she wins, Buckley will become the first ever Irish recipient of the Best Actress Academy Award, with Brenda Fricker having won Best Supporting Actress in 1990 for My Left Foot.

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Donall still remembers the guidance she gave him at the AIMS Awards in Killarney during the summer of ’08.

“I remember Jessie’s advice about staging Oliver. She said: ‘Donall, just do it your own way’, with a hug and a smile. We were also very lucky on the night to hear Jessie sing live too.”

Greasepaint Productions founder Donall has followed Buckley’s career closely in the years since then, both on screen and on stage.

“I have followed her career closely and particularly enjoyed her BAFTA-nominated performance in Wild Rose, as well as her portrayal of Sally Bowles in Cabaret, for which she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical,” he said.

Meanwhile, the 98th annual Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, March 15.