00:01That for me was the performance of the night.
00:03Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:05And today, we're diving into Jesse Buckley's career timeline
00:08from talent show hopeful to Oscar nominee.
00:12Our place is with our son.
00:15Look at me.
00:18Jesse Buckley first popped up on our radar
00:20as an 18-year-old on the BBC's I Do Anything,
00:24a talent competition searching for a new Nancy
00:26for the West End revival of Oliver.
00:28As long as he...
00:37She didn't win, but she did come in second.
00:41Still, that didn't stop her from making a bold move.
00:44While most runners-up probably would have grabbed
00:46the understudy role of Nancy,
00:48Buckley famously said no thanks.
00:51She later called the whole reality TV experience
00:53quote, brutalizing and messed up.
00:55So instead, she took a job singing in a jazz club
00:59for 300 pounds a week.
01:01That was somewhere between $460 and $485 back then.
01:05Which you can't really...
01:06You can't even get the tube on that over in London.
01:09That's also when she made her professional debut
01:12in A Little Night Music
01:13and eventually decided to enroll
01:15at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
01:17better known as RADA
01:18to escape the fast track to pre-packaged fame.
01:22Fun fact, it was during this time
01:24that a patron was so blown away by her voice
01:26that they offered to cover her expenses
01:28so she could go study.
01:30He paid for, like, my training.
01:32He paid for my rent.
01:33He paid for food shopping
01:35when I couldn't, like...
01:37You know, and pure...
01:39The kindness of strangers is incredible.
01:43After graduating in 2013,
01:45Buckley quickly made a name for herself
01:47as a classical actress,
01:49landing roles at Shakespeare's Globe
01:50as Miranda in The Tempest
01:52and sharing the stage with Jude Law
01:54in Henry V
01:55and Judi Dench in The Winter's Tale.
01:58She later described this repertory period
02:00as the time she built the technical discipline
02:02that would shape her screen presence.
02:04Your father's in some passion
02:06that works in strongly.
02:07Never till this day
02:08saw I am touched with anger so distempered.
02:11Buckley's TV career kicked off
02:13with some pretty high-profile
02:15BBC literary adaptations.
02:17She played Maria Bolkonskaya
02:19in War and Peace
02:20and Lorna in Taboo.
02:22There are still those that say
02:24that only a beast can tame a beast.
02:27And that to avenge the death
02:29of the good people like my dear father,
02:32we must find our own monster
02:35and call him Napoleon.
02:38But 2018 was when things really took off.
02:41In her film debut,
02:42she starred in Beast,
02:44playing a woman trapped
02:45in a stifling community
02:46who falls for a murder suspect.
02:48That role won her
02:49the British Independent Film Award
02:51for Most Promising Newcomer.
02:52I want you to tell me
02:54that you didn't do it.
02:57I lied for you.
02:58I said we were together that night
03:00and I need to know
03:00I did it for the right reason.
03:02Next up was Wild Rose,
03:03where she played Roselynn Harlan,
03:05a Scottish ex-con
03:06with big dreams
03:07of making it in Nashville.
03:09Here, Buckley got to blend
03:10her musical chops
03:11with some serious dramatic grit.
03:30The performance earned her
03:31a BAFTA nomination
03:32for Best Actress
03:33and even gave her the chance
03:35to perform the film's soundtrack
03:36at Glastendary Festival.
03:38She kept the momentum going
03:39in 2019
03:40with a haunting turn
03:41in HBO's Chernobyl,
03:43plus a supporting role
03:44in the Judy Garland biopic Judy.
03:46Look, I'll do all I can
03:48to help you resolve
03:49whatever's going on,
03:51but please,
03:53for my sake,
03:54just do the show.
03:57You're a classy little number,
03:59aren't you?
03:59By the time the 2020s rolled around,
04:02Buckley had become the go-to
04:03for directors who love
04:04a bit of psychological complexity.
04:07Her filmography from this era
04:08is basically a checklist
04:09of prestige cinema.
04:11I feel like I was
04:12that wind tonight
04:14blowing through Jake's parents,
04:16seeing them as they were,
04:18seeing them as they will be,
04:20seeing them after they're gone.
04:21What are you-
04:22And only I'm left.
04:23What are you thinking?
04:25Only the wind.
04:26Not much.
04:27She starred in Charlie Kaufman's
04:29surreal I'm Thinking of Ending Things
04:31and Alex Garland's folk horror, Men.
04:33In 2021's The Lost Daughter,
04:36she played the younger version
04:37of Olivia Colman's character
04:39and picked up her first Oscar nomination
04:41for Best Supporting Actress.
04:43Critics called her performance
04:44a, quote,
04:45revelation of maternal ambivalence.
04:47Can you home now, Mommy?
04:50I'm home today.
04:51Can you wash my hands off to dinner?
04:55I can't stay for dinner, baby.
04:59I've got to get in an airplane.
05:01Oh, okay.
05:02That same year,
05:04she starred in the National Theatre's
05:05televised Romeo and Juliet
05:07and made a splashy return
05:08to the West End
05:09as Sally Bowles and Cabaret,
05:11handpicked by Eddie Redmayne,
05:13who starred alongside her as the emcee.
05:15Her, quote,
05:17astonishing fierceness in the role
05:18won her the Laurence Olivier Award
05:19for Best Actress in a Musical.
05:21Eddie Redmayne,
05:22you eejit for even asking me to do it.
05:27Meanwhile,
05:28she kept racking up screen credits
05:29in titles like Women Talking,
05:31Wicked Little Letters,
05:33Fingernails,
05:33and even Fargo,
05:35the latter of which earned her
05:36a Critics' Choice Award nomination
05:38for Best Supporting Actress.
05:39Those types of narcotics,
05:41when prescribed as a medical remedy,
05:44say, as a mood elevator
05:45or to strengthen the concentration
05:46can be quite effective,
05:47but ingesting them
05:49without the written prescription
05:50of a certified physician,
05:54that's not something I can help you with.
05:56And if you thought
05:57she might be slowing down,
05:58think again.
05:59She also released
06:00a Mercury Prize shortlisted album,
06:02For All Our Days That Tear The Heart,
06:04with Bernard Butler in 2022.
06:15Indeed,
06:16time after time,
06:17Buckley has proven
06:18she can disappear into any role,
06:20whether by switching up her accent
06:22or just changing her hair color.
06:24She's even said
06:25that these little transformations
06:27help her draw a line
06:28between herself and her characters,
06:30giving her a place to hide
06:31from all the attention.
06:33How did you get,
06:33did you just spend time
06:35around Glaswegians
06:36just listening to them
06:36and talking like that?
06:37Yeah, you know,
06:38it's great fun,
06:39you know,
06:39when your research means
06:40that you have to go
06:41to the Ben Nevis,
06:42you know,
06:42for Friday and Saturday night
06:43to really get into character.
06:45It's brilliant.
06:45Then the Hamnet era rolled in,
06:47where Buckley went from being
06:49an actor's actor
06:50to a full-on generational icon.
06:52Another interesting tidbit for you,
06:54it was around this time
06:55that Buckley started thinking
06:56about motherhood,
06:58starting her own journey
06:59into parenthood as filming wrapped,
07:01becoming a mom to a baby girl.
07:03But that's a story for another day.
07:04I don't think it's kind of
07:06any coincidence
07:06that I became a mom
07:07on the other side of Hamnet
07:09because it stoked the flames
07:12for something to open in me
07:16and being a mom
07:18is the greatest privilege of my life.
07:21Chloe Zhao's adaptation
07:22of Maggie O'Farrell's novel
07:24doesn't focus on Shakespeare,
07:25but instead puts his wife
07:27Agnes front and center.
07:28Agnes' connection to the natural world
07:30is almost supernatural,
07:32and Buckley's performance
07:33has been described by critics
07:35as, quote,
07:36ferocious gentleness.
07:37You weren't here.
07:38I would have cut my heart out
07:40and given it to him.
07:41I would have laid my life
07:42down on the ground for him
07:43and no one would take it.
07:44I know.
07:44No, you don't know.
07:47You don't know.
07:48You weren't here.
07:49The film introduces Agnes
07:50as she emerges
07:51from the hollow of a giant tree,
07:53a so-called wood nymph,
07:54if you will,
07:55who becomes the heart
07:56of the Shakespeare family.
07:58By March 2026,
08:00Buckley had basically swept
08:01the major acting awards,
08:02becoming the first Irish performer
08:04to win the actor award,
08:06formerly SAG,
08:07for lead female actor.
08:08To get to work
08:10with my heart in my hand
08:12and stand beside
08:14my brilliant,
08:17daring friends
08:18who show me their heart,
08:19I mean,
08:19what a way
08:20to spend a life.
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08:38So what's next for Buckley?
08:41Even as she's busy
08:42collecting her flowers
08:43for Hamnet,
08:44she's already on
08:45to her next big thing,
08:46The Bride,
08:47directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
08:49This time,
08:50Buckley's doing a total 180
08:51from the earthy Amnes,
08:53playing a murdered woman
08:54in 1930s Chicago
08:55who's brought back to life
08:57as Frankenstein's bride.
08:58Please don't hurt me,
08:59please.
09:00I'm sorry.
09:00What are you sorry for?
09:02Did you do something wrong?
09:04Something you thought
09:04you might get away with?
09:05She's admitted
09:06she wasn't exactly
09:07the studio's first pick,
09:09calling herself,
09:10the least bankable choice,
09:12since she's not been
09:13in any big Hollywood franchises
09:15and doesn't have
09:15a social media presence.
09:17But Gyllenhaal
09:18put her foot down,
09:19reportedly saying,
09:20who else could have done it?
09:22Jessie's able to hold
09:23the entire spectrum
09:24of human experience
09:25inside of her.
09:26Jessie Buckley
09:27was in my first film
09:29and she was so wonderful
09:32and also spoke my language
09:35in a way that I've never
09:38encountered
09:38in quite the same way.
09:39I also like working
09:40with actors who speak
09:41another language.
09:42It's also very exciting.
09:42But Jessie and I
09:43are real soul sisters.
09:45Early reviews
09:46from the London premiere
09:47are calling her performance
09:48quote,
09:49electrifying in punk rock
09:50with a black-tongued,
09:52frizzy-haired look
09:52that just proves
09:53once again.
09:54Buckley is the ultimate
09:56multi-hyphenate.
09:57This elemental force
09:58of the bride
09:59is waking the world up.
10:01The dead have got
10:02something to say.
10:03Once I'd created
10:05this person
10:05who is the powerhouse
10:07of a woman,
10:08it was only ever Jessie.
10:10Honestly,
10:11you can't look at
10:11Buckley's resume
10:12and find any kind
10:13of typecasting.
10:14She's truly done it all.
10:16And to think,
10:17it all started
10:18with a reality TV show
10:19called I Do Anything.
10:21Needless to say,
10:22Buckley proved
10:22she really could do anything.
10:24Such an interesting career
10:26you've got, Jessie,
10:27though.
10:27It's so different,
10:28isn't it?
10:29Yeah,
10:30I've been incredibly lucky.
10:31I don't know if there's
10:33somebody looking after me.
10:37And largely,
10:38it's been down to the,
10:39I've met incredible people
10:40along the way
10:41who for some reason
10:42have just taken me
10:43under their wing
10:44or encouraged me
10:46to keep going.
10:47When did you first
10:48become acquainted
10:48with Jessie Buckley?
10:49Let us know
10:50in the comments.
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