FAME CAN DISTRACTING: SAOIRSE RONAN

Irish actor Saoirse Ronan says it can be distracting when you get “more recognisable”. The 24-year-old — who won a nomination at this year’s Academy Awards for her role in the American comedy-drama, Lady Bird (2017) — has recently emerged as one of the most in-demand young stars in Hollywood, but Ronan says she is determined to stay grounded. She doesn’t want fame to distract her from her work.

“I can see how it can be distracting, especially when you do get a bit more recognisable, and maybe you are sort of in the public eye a little bit more and stuff,” she told online entertainment news portal ITV.

“But if you’re aware of why it is you’re doing this — it should be because you love it — it keeps you quite levelheaded,” she added.

Despite the success Ronan has enjoyed, she often goes about her day-to-day life unnoticed. She said a large number of people still don’t realise that she is Irish.

“You know, most people still don’t know that I’m Irish. I have a lot of people coming up to me in Ireland lately, when I’ve been home, and friends of mine who apparently love me say that my voice is very, very loud and it travels across time and space... I was in a supermarket the other day and someone was like, ‘Is it you, is it yourself?’ I was like, “Who do you think I am?” [The person said] ‘Are you Saoirse? I didn’t know it was you by looking at you, but I heard your voice.’ So it tends to be the voice...”

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK Saoirse Ronan has previously been nominated at the Oscars for Best Actress for Brooklyn (2015), and Best Supporting Actress for Atonement (2007) at the age of 13