Hamnet star Jessie Buckley has made history by becoming the first Irish woman to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards in Hollywood.
The Killarney native was the favourite for her performance as Agnes in Hamnet, an adaptation of the bestseller of the same name by Coleraine-born author Maggie O'Farrell, which "tells the powerful love story that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet".
In the 98-year history of the Oscars, Saoirse Ronan and Ruth Negga are the only other Irish women to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Jessie Buckley was previously Oscar-nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category in 2022 for The Lost Daughter.
When her win was announced on Sunday night, Buckley was congratulated by her Hamnet co-star Paul Mescal and the film's director, Chloé Zhao.
Hamnet had been nominated for eight Oscars - including director Zhao and writer O'Farrell - but Buckley was the film's only winner.
Accepting her Oscar, an emotional Buckley said: "Wow. Thank you so much. This is really something!"
After saluting her fellow nominees and Hamnet colleagues, Buckley continued: "My family, my Irish family, they're all here. Ireland bought them flights!
"Mum, Dad, thank you for teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectation but to carve from your own passion."
She then thanked her husband and daughter.
"You, Fred, I love you man," she said. "I love you. You're the most incredible dad, you're my best friend, and I want to have 20,000 more babies with you. I do! I do!
"And Isla, my little girl, who is eight months, who has absolutely no idea what's going on and is probably dreaming of milk, but this is kind of a big deal. And I love you and I love being your mom and I can't wait to discover life beside you."
Marking Mother's Day, she concluded by dedicating her Oscar to "the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart", adding, "Go raibh míle, míle maith agat".
Speaking to RTÉ's Arts and Media Correspondent Evelyn O'Rourke after accepting her award, Buckley had a message for the people back home.
"Don't go to bed – keep partying!"
She added: "I am so grateful for the support and I feel the love. I feel it from young people, from old people, from my family. They've flown in from New Zealand, from Kerry, and from Dublin."
Watch: "Don't go to bed – keep partying!" Jessie Buckley sends message back home after Oscars win
In another big Irish victory on the night, Dubliner Richard Baneham, a lynchpin of James Cameron's Avatar franchise, won his third Oscar for his visual effects work on Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Accepting his third Academy Award, he said: "First and foremost, I think, thank you to our families. Honestly, the love, support our wives, our partners [give us].
The team behind AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH wins the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/dxWJVGIgFj
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 16, 2026
"Like, there's twenty-two hundred artists; this is a massive, massive collaboration on the VFX (Visual Effects) side. We also overlap with everybody on the movie. So to all our families, this is everything. Again, truly, truly everything.
"Jim Cameron, go raibh mile maith agat. He literally informs every frame of the movie and, I think, has a big part in the effects."
Speaking to RTÉ 2FM's Emma Power from the press room, Baneham said: "Honestly, it is an industry of relationships. I'm not going to speak for everyone, but I'm telling you it is built on family and trust and empowerment from people who love you and live with you. That is the long and short of it. The fact that we do crazy hours and crazy days is really empowered by the people around us."
Watch: Jessie Buckley and Richard Baneham among winners at the 98th Academy Awards
The biggest winner at this year's Oscars was the political action-thriller One Battle After Another with six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Penn.
It was followed by the vampire thriller Sinners, which won four awards on the night, including Best Actor for Michael B Jordan and Best Original Screenplay for its writer-director, Ryan Coogler.
The 98th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O'Brien, will be shown on RTÉ2 on Monday from 9:30pm.
The winners on the night:
Best Picture
One Battle After Another - Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson
Actress in a Leading Role
Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
Actor in a Leading Role
Michael B Jordan - Sinners
Directing
Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another
Music (Original Song)
Golden from KPop Demon Hunters - EJAE (music and lyric), Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu-kwak, Lee Yu-han, Nam Hee-dong, Teddy Park, 24
International Feature Film
Sentimental Value (Norway)
Cinematography
Sinners - Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Editing
One Battle After Another - Andy Jurgensen
Sound
F1 - Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo, Juan Peralta
Music (Original Score)
Sinners - Ludwig Göransson
Documentary Feature Film
Mr Nobody Against Putin - Helle Faber, Alzbeta Karaskova, Pavel Talankin, David Borenstein
Documentary Short Film
All the Empty Rooms - Joshua Seftel, Conall Jones
Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash - Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett
Production Design
Frankenstein - Tamara Deverell (production designer), Shane Vieau (set decorator)
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Sinners - Ryan Coogler
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
One Battle After Another - Paul Thomas Anderson
Actor in a Supporting Role
Sean Penn - One Battle After Another
Live Action Short Film (Tie)
The Singers - Sam A Davism, Jack Piatt
Two People Exchanging Saliva - Alexandre Singh, Natalie Musteata
Casting
One Battle After Another - Cassandra Kulukundis
Makeup and Hairstyling
Frankenstein - Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey
Costume Design
Frankenstein - Kate Hawley
Animated Short Film
The Girl Who Cried Pearls - Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
Animated Feature Film
KPop Demon Hunters - Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Michelle Wong
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Madigan - Weapons
