Kerry’s finest: Rising star Jessie Buckley pines for Kingdom as career takes off
RISING star Jessie Buckley has admitted she misses the Kerry countryside and her dad’s brown bread as her career takes her away from home.
Buckley (29) is on the crest of a wave after receiving rave reviews for her performance in thriller ‘Beast’ last year.
She was also one of six young Irish people to be named in the Forbes “30 under 30” list for Europe.
The Kerry native, who starred in the BBC’s 2016 TV adaptation of ‘War and Peace’, narrowly missed out on the Rising Star award at the Baftas. She lost out to Letitia Wright and was nominated for the gong alongside another Irish starlet, Barry Keoghan.
As her career has exploded, Jessie has been spending more time away from home, but she insists she has not forgotten her roots.
“I went home for Christmas, I actually got a long stint there which was nice. I miss it, you grow up there and take it for granted,” she told the Irish Independent at Sky’s new season launch yesterday.
“Then you go away and you pine for hills and quietness. Most of my family live down there and I miss them.
“I miss my dad’s brown bread and marmalade and a cup of tea, and going for walks around Killarney, and going down to Ballinskelligs to our caravan. The Irish are lovely, always open-armed and welcoming.”
The Kerry actress is starring this year in an upcoming high-end drama from Sky based on the events of the Chernobyl disaster, which Dubliner Keoghan also stars in.
And Jessie said Dubliner Keoghan has struck up a friendship with her brother.
“Barry now lives down in my hometown. My brother’s a mountaineer and him and my brother have managed to meet up.
“I keep getting messages from my brother saying: ‘Oh yeah, I’m up the mountain with Barry!’ Why aren’t I up the mountain with Barry?
“But he’s so brilliant in it, he’s really fantastic.
“I was only pure delighted to be beside him [at the Baftas], I wasn’t even thinking about going head to head.
“It was lovely, I think he’s just such a fantastic actor and I hope I get to work with him.”
Despite featuring in a number of period dramas, the actress got her big break on the BBC showthemed talent series ‘I’d Do Anything’ in 2008.
Buckley won Andrew Lloyd Webber’s approval to star as the next Nancy in the musical ‘Oliver’ but came second on the show overall.
“I look back now and can’t believe I was 17 and had the courage to do that. I learned a lot from it,” she said.