NEED TO KNOW
When Jessie Buckley first stepped into her role as a mother of three in Hamnet, she wasn’t one — but it was a deep desire.
While speaking with press after accepting the 2026 Critics Choice Award for Best Actress, Buckley, 36, was asked how she tapped into motherhood to portray Agnes, the wife of Paul Mescal’s William Shakespeare. She explained that while she “deeply wanted” to be a mom at that time, she had to draw on different experiences.
“Well, I wasn’t a mother at the time that I filmed it. I deeply wanted to be a mother, but I have a mother and I know women and we’re pretty epic,” Buckley said in the press room of the award show on Sunday, Jan. 4.
“We’ve got a lot. We contain multitudes. We’ve got a lot inside of us,” the Irish actress continued. “And I think I’ve been on a bit of a journey to try and excavate the bits that I … I just want to keep filling up that tank and landscape.”
Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features
Buckley — whose gut-wrenching performance in Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao and based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, received critical acclaim following its debut — went on to state that she thinks “mothers are pretty incredible. “
“So to be able to get to understand one from this woman’s point of view, from Agnes’ point of view, and give this woman who has always been kind of misplaced beside this giant that has Shakespeare and to give her a voice was such a privilege,” she concluded.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Hamnet star — who is married to a man she described to The New York Times as a mental health worker named Freddie — announced her pregnancy by debuting her baby bump on a red carpet at CinemaCon in April 2025. She later welcomed her child, a baby girl, she revealed on The New York Times’ Modern Love podcast months later, in October.
She has since spoken about motherhood here and there — including revealing the “best thing about” it in a November chat with Elle. Her daughter was 8 weeks old at the time of the interview, she said.
“The best thing about being a mom,” she said, “is just when even when you’re having a hard day, they give you these otherworldly little smiles and make your heart crack into a thousand pieces and you think, ‘Oh, it’s all going to be okay.’ ”
Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
Elsewhere in the Elle interview, Buckley said, “My little girl just started to laugh and and make silly noises, and I think it’s the funniest and cutest thing in the world.”
The actress’s daughter is now 6 months old, she revealed in the Critics Choice Awards press room.
When asked about how she is adjusting to her growing fame and critical acclaim following her lauded turn as Agnes, Buckley said, “Well, I don’t know. I’m just getting on with my life.”
“I’ve got a 6 month old at home who’s got a chesty cough and I changed her nappy at 4:00 a.m. this morning. So I’m getting off my life and my job is my work and I love what I do,” she continued. “And this is, in my head, I’m just going to go and have the greatest office party of my life for the next few months and be around people that inspire me in such a wild way.”
“And to celebrate, to make anything at all, is a triumph,” added Buckley. “And I feel so grateful to be part of this community. So that’s it really for me.”
Hamnet is a fictional tale of the domestic life of Shakespeare’s family, and the writing of his play Hamlet. The children of Buckley’s Agnes and Mescal’s Shakespeare were portrayed by actors Jacobi Jupe, Olivia Lynes and Bodhi Rae Breathnach, whom Buckley affectionately called her “kiddywinks” in her Critics Choice acceptance speech.
The movie is now in theaters.
