Jessie Buckley wins Best Actress at the Academy Awards 2026

Jessie Buckley plays Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao's screen adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's book, which explores the imagined life of playwright William Shakespeare and his wife through the loss of their son Hamnet.

West End star Jessie Buckley, known for her Olivier-winning turn in Cabaret, has won the Best Actress Award for Hamnet at this year's Academy Awards.

Buckley has made history as the first Irish woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars.

Buckley plays Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao's screen adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's book, which explores the imagined life of playwright William Shakespeare and his wife through the loss of their son Hamnet.

The book was originally adapted for the stage at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2023, before transferring to the Garrick Theatre.

In a review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, our critic said: "The play has one advantage over the book in its climax: we can actually hear a speech from Hamlet, and feel for ourselves how personal grief possibly infused that great work.

"Thanks to the pandemic, our own plague, we too need art to make sense of those bewildering deaths, to offer solace and escape, and to remind us of the fierce resilience of humanity."

Buckley has also starred in number of Shakespeare's plays, including The Winter's Tale, Henry V, and The Tempest.

Cabaret continues to play at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre.

Read more about Hamnet and how it relates to real history on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: Jessie Buckley with Eddie Redymayne in Cabaret. (Courtesy of production)