Fourteen years ago Jessie Buckley was singing for her supper on a TV talent show – last night she was celebrating her first Oscar nomination.
The 32-year-old London-based Irish star was listed for Academy Award recognition when she was named as a best supporting actress nominee for her role in the Netflix film The Lost Daughter.
The ceremony in Hollywood next month will be the next step on the path to success that began for her over several weeks in 2008, when viewers were glued to their sets following her progress to the final of I’d Do Anything, the hunt for a singer to play the role of Nancy in a West End production of musical Oliver!
Fourteen years ago Jessie Buckley was singing for her supper on a TV talent show – last night she was celebrating her first Oscar nomination
Miss Buckley was runner-up then and will hope to go one better at the Oscars, where 29 Britons have been nominated.
Last night, before appearing at the Kit Kat Club in London in Cabaret opposite past Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, she said: ‘I’m in complete shock! The Lost Daughter is so special to me. To be recognised for anything connected to it is just a wild dream come true.’
Yesterday’s nominations were dominated by films from streaming services over their traditional cinema rivals. Netflix had 27 nominations overall, making it the most successful studio.
Jessie Buckley, a contestant in the BBC1 programme: I’d Do Anything. The programme was a contest to find a person to take on the role of Nancy, in the West End musical: Oliver!
Benedict Cumberbatch’s gothic Western The Power Of The Dog, also on Netflix, bagged the most with 12, while sci-fi extravaganza Dune came in second with ten.
Sir Kenneth Branagh’s semi-biographical heartfelt picture Belfast secured seven nods, with Branagh, up for best director, breaking an Oscar record for receiving seven nominations in seven different categories throughout his career.
He said last night: ‘Today, I think of my mother and father, and my grandparents – how proud they were to be Irish, how much this city meant to them. They would have been overwhelmed by this incredible honour – as am I.’
Miss Buckley’s rivals for supporting actress are a formidable group including Dame Judi Dench, 87, in the running for playing the grandmother in Belfast. She has been nominated seven times previously, winning in the same category in 1999 for Shakespeare In Love.
If Dame Judi wins, she will become the oldest ever actor to land an Oscar, taking the title from Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won last year aged 83.
There’s also strong competition from Ariana DeBose in West Side Story; Kirsten Dunst in The Power Of The Dog and Aunjanue Ellis in the tale of the Williams tennis sisters, King Richard.
Awards favourite Olivia Colman, already an Oscar-winner, was back up again having been cited in the best actress category for playing the older version of Buckley’s Lost Daughter character.
Yesterday’s nominations were dominated by films from streaming services over their traditional cinema rivals. Netflix had 27 nominations overall, making it the most successful studio
In certain respects yesterday’s announcement out of Hollywood was a case of what the Baftas giveth, the Oscars taketh away.
As far as the best actress line-up anyway. The Baftas chose Lady Gaga, Emilia Jones, Joanna Scanlan, Renate Reinsve and Tessa Thompson for the best actress section but Academy members went for Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye); Miss Colman, Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), Nicole Kidman (Being The Ricardos) and Kristen Stewart for her performance as Princess Diana in the film Spencer.
Benedict Cumberbatch will take on fellow Briton Andrew Garfield after being named in the best actor list for roles in The Power Of The Dog and tick,tick…BOOM! respectively. Garfield last night told Variety: ‘It’s deeply moving to be honoured and recognised in this way.’
The British pair will be up against Javier Bardem (Being The Ricardos), Will Smith (King Richard) and Denzel Washington for The Tragedy Of Macbeth, the tenth nomination of his career.
Blockbusters such as James Bond film No Time To Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home failed to crack the best-film tier. The 007 feature garnered three nominations including best song as its Marvel rival bagged just one.
Millions were spent on an awards campaign for The House Of Gucci starring Lady Gaga. It got just one nod – for her hair and make-up.
