“Hamnet” actress Jessie Buckley on how Shakespeare changed everything for her

She was called “The best kept secret in the acting world.” But Jessie Buckley's latest role in Hamnet may change that. As Rolling Stone magazine put it, people “I’ll be talking about Jessie Buckley’s performance for years to come.”

Buckley plays the wife of William Shakespeare (played by Irish actor Paul Mescal). Adapted from A novel by Maggie O'FarrellThis is a fictional account of the death of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet. He thinks the tragedy inspired him to write Hamlet.

“I just knew I needed somewhere to go mentally and emotionally,” Buckley said of her work.

I said, “You have this fire inside—that’s what we see in the film.”

“I don’t know, what about you?” she answered.

“I would say so, in what I saw, you see it!”

“I have fire, but I’ll tell you what “Hamnet” gave me, what I was also looking for, was tenderness. And sometimes it's as strong as fire.”

She said when she began filming more complex scenes, such as the death of a child, she told her husband that she needed to leave for two weeks. So Buckley came to Hampstead Heath, a huge green space in London where she went for a swim every morning. “I just need to be out in nature and start my day and wake up that way and then go on set and see what happens,” she said.

She says Hamnet director Chloe Zhao (Oscar winner for Nomadland) reminded her that her filmmaking isn't just escapism. “Our job as actors and storytellers is to touch upon the most sublime expressions that are too difficult for us to contain,” Buckley said. “I will incubate pieces of ourselves, the shadows.”

“What shadow parts of you showed up in this role?” I asked.

“I’m not telling you!” she laughed. “You have to watch it and make your own decision.”

“Sacred Flame of Star Quality”

Her breakthrough role was playing a single mother fresh out of prison in 2018's Wild Rose. Then, in 2022, Buckley received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Lost Daughter. Her other credits include I'm Thinking of Ending Things, The Beast, Girl Talk, and the TV series Fargo.

She said: “I never in a million years thought I would make a film.”

Because? “I didn't have a TV until I was 15,” she said. “And it was exotic, like it was in Hollywood. It wasn't in Kerry.”

In rugged County Kerry, in the southeast of Ireland, Buckley grew up in a creative family, playing harp, clarinet and piano. She sang and performed in school plays. But it was Britain's Got Talent “I would do anything” it brought her to the big stage – and in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber. He praised her, saying, “Jessie has a star-quality sacred flame.”

She lost this competition, but quickly received roles in the theater. Her first performance of Shakespeare took place near the place in London where Shakespeare's early plays were performed for the first time.in the original Rose Theater built in 1587.

Shakespeare changed everything for her: “I think I used to feel like music was the only way to contain what wanted to come out, and then Shakespeare's words and his worlds were so titanic that it made me realize how powerful words can be,” she said.

Of playing with Mescal in Hamnet, Buckley said: “I just adore the man. And from the very first reading in chemistry…”

“Read chemistry to make sure you have chemistry?” I asked.

“Yes,” she laughed. “I mean, it would be very depressing if I didn’t, wouldn’t it? I would be the only woman in the world who couldn’t find chemistry with Paul Mescal!”

The 35-year-old actress says she has also found chemistry with Christian Bale for her next film, in which she plays the bride of Frankenstein's monster. Director Maggie Gyllenhaal subverts genres and expectations. “It’s punk, real punk,” Buckley said. “I remember the first time I read it, it was like being plugged into an electrical socket.”

I said, “Maggie Gyllenhaal called you a wild animal.”

– Hm. Okay,” Buckley said.

– Do you think there is truth in this?

“I have a lot of life!”

The life and vitality we now see in the film is the journey that brought Buckley to London when he was a teenager. According to her, at that moment she was in a dark place. “I was depressed and I wasn’t feeling very well,” she said. “And I wanted a lot from life. I really craved this. And I felt there was no room for that. And I think that’s when it blew up on me and when I got sick and lost myself, you know?”

– How did you deal with this?

“They helped me,” she replied. “I went to therapy. Singing. I mean, I honestly think it kind of saved me. Something wasn’t alive then, let’s say, like it is now.”

To watch the Hamnet trailer, click on the video player below.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch the extended interview with Jessie Buckley (Video)

For more information:

• “Hamnet” (from Focus Features) hits theaters December 12th.
• “Bride!” (from Warner Brothers) will hit theaters March 2026.

The story was produced by Michaela Bufano. Editor: Carol Ross.