If Jessie Buckley wins an Oscar tonight one of her old directors has every right to say I told you so.
Jessie, 32, nominated for best supporting actress for The Lost Daugter, is up against the likes of Judi Dench for Belfast and The Power of the Dog’s Kirsten Dunst.
But Jessie’s star quality has been clear ever since she was a child. Friends at a local theatre group said she always “stood out and gave it welly”, even in a kids’ production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Director Oliver Hurley was amazed by her talent when, at 17, she auditioned for the lead part of Julie Jordan in Carousel at Killarney Musical Society’s production in her Irish hometown.
He said: “I saw it in her, that day she walked in for the Carousel audition.
"I told my friends she’ll get an Oscar some day.
“She blew us all away – we were gobsmacked.
"We were seeing experienced women in their 20s and 30s, but she walked in and read – I will never forget it – and there was no question she was getting the part.
"She played a strong lady who had to stand up to an abusive man – the kind of strong gritty role which she’s now known for.”
Oliver, 57, said: “She was never your typical stage school kid.
"The people nurturing her talent were very relaxed, they allowed her to express herself.
"Jessie was real fun, giddy and relaxed – she still is. She was professional to her finger tips.
"People join an amateur musical society for a bit of fun but, by God, she would rehearse and people rose to her work ethic.”
Jessie’s career took off in 2008 after she finished second to Jodie Prenger in I’d Do Anything, a BBC series looking for someone to be Nancy in a revival of the musical Oliver!
She has since appeared in 2016’s War & Peace, opposite Tom Hardy in Taboo and as the wife of a dying fireman in the highly acclaimed series Chernobyl.
Oliver, who is based in Tralee, near Killarney, thinks her depiction of overwrought young mum Leda in the Netflix psychological drama The Lost Daughter could win her the Oscar.
He said: “I’m bursting with pride today as I remember that young girl who auditioned all those years ago.”
