As Jessie Buckley became the first Irish woman in Oscars history to be crowned best actress, she made sure to wrap up her acceptance speech with some Gaelic.
In Hamnet‘s only Academy Award win, Buckley beat Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), and Emma Stone (Bugonia) to the penultimate prize of the evening.
After thanking her husband and eight-month-old daughter, she dedicated the win to the “chaos of a mother’s heart.” Right before the Kerry native departed the stage, she could also be heard saying, “Go raibh maith agaibh, slán,” which Irish reports translate to “Thank you very much, goodbye.”
Buckley went into more detail about making history backstage, also commenting on it being Mother’s Day in the U.K. on Sunday: “First Irish woman to win and on Mother’s Day — it feels like some kind of crazy alchemy that all of these things are colliding on a day like today,” she said. “My daughter got her first tooth this week, I woke up with her lying on my chest, snuggling me.”
“I feel like what a gift to get to explore motherhood through this incredible mother this is and was,” she continued, “and then to become one myself, and then to receive this recognition of the incredible role mothers play in our world on this day is something I will never, ever forget.”
It was no surprise when Buckley’s name was read out by 2025 winner and Anora star Mikey Madison, after she swept up at all the preceding award shows, including the Actor Awards and Golden Globes. In Hamnet, she plays wife of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) as the two parents are caught in contrasting experiences of grief following the death of their son. The screenplay was adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s book of the same name by O’Farrell and director Chloé Zhao.
Her win was the only major show-up for the international crowd at the 98th Academy Awards, as Joachim Trier and Sentimental Value left with just one Oscar (best international feature film).
Paul Thomas Anderson and One Battle After Another dominated, with Ryan Coogler’s Sinners right on their tail. Take a look at the full winners list.
