Jessie Buckley's carefree childhood photos reveal the Oscar tipped star's life before she was famous
She is Hollywood’s most talked-about rising star following her heartrending performance as Shakespeare's wife in Hamnet.So it was no surprise when Jessie Buckley appeared as Vogue magazine's cover star this month wearing a satin Prada dress and Tiffany diamond earrings.However, a long-forgotten Facebook page reveals a very different glimpse of the woman tipped for Oscar glory.Before the red carpet dazzle and glitzy magazine shoots, the Irish actress was just another twenty-something sharing blurry selfies and silly snapshots with friends on social media.The candid images - posted between 2012 and 2020 and still publicly visible - show a young woman living a more ordinary life: doting on her siblings, joking with pals and writing affectionate messages to her parents.Among them are pictures of Jessie going make-up free to promote breast cancer awareness, and another of her wearing a bright orange wig on her head, jokingly referring to herself as Noddy. Jessie Buckley's carefree childhood photos reveal the Oscar tipped star's life before she was famous as she becomes Hollywood’s most talked-about rising star Before the red carpet dazzle and glitzy magazine shoots, the Irish actress was just another twenty-something sharing blurry selfies and silly snapshots with friends on social mediaIt is a world that could not be further removed from the glittering fame now surrounding her.Now 36, Buckley is riding the biggest wave of her career after her acclaimed portrayal as Agnes, the grieving wife of William Shakespeare.Industry insiders are tipping her for major wins at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars, and last week she turned heads on the red carpet as she scooped Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards.Yet despite the growing fame and fortune, Jessie has never been comfortable with the trappings of celebrity.Fiercely private, she has no Instagram or Twitter account and keeps her personal life firmly under wraps.Aside from her forgotten Facebook page, she has virtually no online footprint, and now lives quietly in rural Norfolk with her husband, a mental health professional, and four-month-old daughter.Jessie's old social media pictures - on a profile named Messy Jessie - appear to suggest a woman more comfortable away from the spotlight.Grainy pictures show Jessie hugging friends on a night out - or striding across the windswept hills of her native Killarney, untouched by stylists, filters or any hint of celebrity gloss. Jessie won Best Actress at this week's Critics' Choice Awards for her portrayal of Shakespeare's wife Agnes in Hamnet (pictured 2026) Jessie's old social media pictures - on a profile named Messy Jessie - appear to suggest a woman more comfortable away from the spotlight Fiercely private, she has no Instagram or Twitter account and keeps her personal life firmly under wrapsA 2014 album from a trip to Tanzania shows the actress helping children at a local school. In one caption, she wrote: 'I gave them a book!'These kids are absolutely amazing...that girl in the middle is gonna be a prime minister.'Born and raised in County Kerry, Jessie is the eldest of five children in a household she once described as 'mayhem, with loads of love and sometimes terror'.Her father Tim, a poet and enthusiastic cook, ran a guesthouse, while her mother Marina Cassidy, a classical singer and harpist, filled the home with music.Jessie, along with her brother Killian and sisters Eva, Julia and Lily, would entertain American tourists staying at the guesthouse with Irish dancing and performances.She once recalled. 'We were the evening entertainment. It was kind of like Wonka’s - anything could happen.' A 2014 album from a trip to Tanzania shows the actress helping children at a local school. In one caption, she wrote: 'I gave them a book!' The star looks far away from the world or red carpets in the candid snaps The candid images - posted between 2012 and 2020 and still publicly visible - show a young woman living a more ordinary life as she hangs out with her friends Jessie, along with her brother Killian and sisters Eva, Julia and Lily, would entertain American tourists staying at the guesthouse with Irish dancing and performances Born and raised in County Kerry, Jessie is the eldest of five children in a household she once described as 'mayhem, with loads of love and sometimes terror' Her father Tim, a poet and enthusiastic cook, ran a guesthouse, while her mother Marina Cassidy, a classical singer and harpist, filled the home with musicThose close family bonds are clear in her Facebook photos, which include unfiltered countryside walks with her brother and affectionate snaps with her sisters.In one emotional post during the Covid pandemic, when Jessie was living in east London, she shared a childhood photo with her father and wrote a heartfelt tribute.'I love you in a million ways that words sometimes feel less,' she wrote.'You're the most beautiful amazing man, dad. You save the bees drowning on the lakes and carry them to the shore. That’s how big your heart is.'You make me laugh when I’m crying. You cry when I smile. You’re heart is a million lakes and I wish I could wrap my arms round you to tell you how much I love you.'In an earlier birthday message to Tim, she added: 'I will hold you and love you and be inspired by you for all of my life. Jessie moved to London aged 17 when she auditioned for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s BBC show I’d Do AnythingJessie moved to London aged 17 when she auditioned for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s BBC show I’d Do Anything.Despite finishing runner-up, she later described the experience as deeply damaging, recalling body-shaming comments and being told to be more 'ladylike'.She told Vogue magazine this month: 'I was depressed. I just wasn't well. There was a lot that was really messed up. A lot of bodyshaming and bringing me to femininity school. And I was growing into my body. I was 17.'I hope that a 15, 17, whatever-age woman now never has to be brutalised quite like what happened on that show. But I didn't recognise it fully at the time. I just felt it, which was difficult.'Jessie's Facebook snaps, the first posted when she was aged 22, show a carefree young woman who appears comfortable in her own skin - sightseeing with her family in London, enjoying nights out with friends, and laughing into the camera.In one wild-haired photo, she joked: 'Never ever leave me near a hair brush!!!!'The actress, who has also starred in War and Peace, Wild Rose, and earned an Oscar nomination for The Lost Daughter, revealed studio executives were reluctant to cast her in Hamnet, saying: 'Being honest, nobody wanted me to do that film.'I mean, the studio. I’ve never done a Marvel, I’m not on Instagram, I’m probably the least bankable.'In 2023, Jessie married her long-term partner Freddie Sorensen, 47, in an intimate ceremony at their 15th-century Norfolk home.Their wedding was attended by just 40 guests who were served Guinness and cheese toasties. Oscar-nominated actress Jessie Buckley's husband is a former X Factor producer who worked alongside Simon Cowell, The Daily Mail can reveal (pictured 2022)Jessie told Vogue her husband would not be making any 'red-carpet debut in their immediate future' and has tried to shield him from the glaze of fame.She joked instead that he would be 'having a ball eating canapés' at promotional events for Hamnet.The Mail revealed this week how Mr Sorensen has a surprising past in showbiz - having once worked having once worked as a television producer on The X Factor and Gladiators before leaving the industry to retrain in mental health.
