Oscars 2026: 5 Movies to Get to Know Best Actress Nominee Jessie Buckley
Thanks to her heartbreaking, utterly perfect performance in Hamnet earning her a Best Actress Oscar nomination, Jessie Buckley is finally getting the flowers she deserves in 2026. She’s in a fairly tough category this year, but given she’s already won the Critics’ Choice award and the Golden Globe for her role as Agnes Shakespeare, we wouldn’t bet against her bagging the big one.
Incredibly, Buckley is still a bit of an unknown entity. While well-appreciated by critics and film fans, she’s not quite a household name, or someone your average moviegoer would be totally familiar with, which is a travesty, to be honest. An impending Oscar win could change all that.
Until then, though, we’ve put together a list of the five key roles she’s blessed us with over the past few years. So, dive into her filmography with the list below, and hopefully you’ll agree with us on how much she deserves the Academy Award.
Aside from some TV work in the early 2010s, Buckley’s first real rise to any kind of prominence – albeit on the indie side of things – was in 2018’s Beast. It’s a fascinating little film from director Michael Pearce starring Johnny Flynn, and a great vehicle for Buckley’s talents. This was certainly the first movie I had ever seen her in, and I knew immediately that she was someone whose career I should keep a close eye on.
The story, which sees Moll (Buckley) develop a problematic relationship with suspected serial killer Pascal (Flynn), feels almost Hitchcockian in tone, but far more raw and rough around the edges. Beast is great at lulling the audience into a false sense of security and making us root for the on-screen couple while always threatening to spill over into seedy, twisted territory. If you liked watching the dangerous dynamics evolve in films such as Drive or Enemy, you should give Beast a go.
You might not know this, but Jessie Buckley has a phenomenal set of pipes, and she put them to great use in Wild Rose. As troubled but talented country singer Rose-Lynn Harlan, Buckley shines as she lets out her more playful side here. With a young family to raise but big ambitions to fulfil, there’s a fascinating dilemma for Rose-Lynn to solve. Regardless of which way she turns, though, this is a relentlessly charming underdog story that succeeds thanks to Buckley’s screen presence.
Just like American Honey or The Worst Person in the World, this is a movie that relies so heavily on the lead actress and the journey she takes us on. Thankfully, you can’t help but be captivated by the endless energy and authenticity of Buckley steering the ship. And as a bonus, the brilliant music is a real treat, too.
We go from the understated Beast and the unapologetically brash Wild Rose, to the downright crazy, surrealist vibes for I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Anyone who has seen the likes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Being John Malkovich will be well aware of just how weird a Charlie Kaufman story can get, and this is no different.
Buckley is joined here by the equally fantastic Jesse Plemons for a road trip movie like no other. A violent snowstorm, bizarre in-laws, and a thought-provoking visit to a mysterious high school; I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a madcap adventure that will well and truly break your brain, but in a good way. Buckley delivers a reading of a poem in this film that has stuck with me ever since; it’s the foundation for one of her very best performances to date.
I was tempted to talk about The Lost Daughter here, as Buckley actually nabbed an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 2021 film. However, I felt Alex Garland’s Men provides better insight into what the actress is capable of. Part folk horror, part mind-bending mystery, and part black comedy in places, Men is very much a one-woman show in which Buckley excels, showcasing her impeccable range and depth as an actress.
Harper (Buckley) is dealing with the fallout of a tragedy that destroyed her marriage and decides a country retreat will be the perfect tonic. However, when strange things start happening around her, she ventures down a rabbit hole she might not make it out of. If you love movies where all is not as it seems, like Mother! or Speak No Evil, you’ll be positively enraptured by this A24 picture. But, be warned, it’s highly divisive. When I went to a screening of this at the time, half of the audience left bemoaning the ending, while the other half (myself included) were dazzled by what Garland and Buckley cooked up.
Buckley and Olivia Colman teamed up again after The Lost Daughter to bring a more fun and lighthearted story to life here. Wicked Little Letters is a genuine laugh-out-loud comedy, with both actresses clearly having a riot putting this one together. Their chemistry and timing are tremendous, and it all feeds into what is a truly intriguing tale, too.
Much like The Favourite or Withnail & I, this is a period comedy that is not without its dark undertones, but it also has enough humorous profanity, slapstick moments, and smiling faces to make it a delightfully warm watch. I watched this with my fiancée, and she loved it, probably more so than I did, which is saying something. If you enjoyed what Buckley did in Hamnet but can’t bear something so bleak (and who could blame you?), this is the ideal tonic.
