Two Irish actors, Barry Keoghan and Jessie Buckley, have been nominated for the 2019 EE BAFTA Rising Star Award. The pair are part of five nominees, which also includes Cynthia Erivo, Lakeith Stanfield, and Letitia Wright.
The EE Rising Star Award is one of the award categories for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) which acknowledges new talents in the acting industry. The award was created after Mary Selway’s death in 2004. She has been recognised for her successful role as a casting director and has helped many new actors and actresses to their claim to fame.
The five nominees are chosen regardless of gender, nationality and whether they have made a breakthrough in television, film or both. Despite the nominees being chosen by the BAFTA juries, the winner is chosen entirely by the public votes via text, internet or phone.
Barry Keoghan is an Irish actor from Summerhill in Dublin. Keoghan is best known to Irish audiences for his roles in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He first rose to prominence as Wayne in hit Irish drama Love/Hate. He has also had star-making turns in Mark O’Connor’s Stalker, Yann Demange’s ’71, and Rebecca Daly’s Mammal, in which he played a lead role alongside veteran Australian actress Rachel Griffiths. Keoghan also starred in Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy Traders with Killian Scott; and Adam Smith’s Trepass Against Us with Brendan Gleeson and Michael Fassbender. He will next be seen in Calm With Horses and as the lead in new TV series Y.
Jessie Buckley is an Irish actor from Killarney, Co. Kerry. Buckley first rose to public attention when she came second in the BBC talent show-themed television series I’d Do Anything in 2008. She subsequently played Anne Egermann in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. She has appeared as Marya Bolkonskaya in the BBC’s dramatisation of War and Peace, before landing the recurring character of Lorna Bow in the BBC television drama series Taboo, alongside Tom Hardy. Last year she drew praise for her lead performance as Moll Huntford in the psychological thriller Beast. She will next be seen as the lead in Wild Rose.
I would like to thank both Bafta and the jury from the bottom of my heart for putting me forward for the 2019 EE Rising Star Award – it’s a huge honour and a fantastic category to be nominated for, especially as the winner is decided by film fans at home.
Jessie Buckley
Previous winners include James McAvoy, Eva Green, Shia LaBeouf, Noel Clarke, Kristen Stewart, Tom Hardy, Adam Deacon, Juno Temple, Will Poulter, Jack O’Connell, John Boyega, Tom Holland, and Daniel Kaluuya. Previous Irish nominees include Cillian Murphy, Michael Fassbender, Chris O’Dowd, and Ruth Negga.
This year’s EE Rising Star jury included actors Rosamund Pike and Richard Madden, broadcaster Edith Bowman, producers Ray Panthaki and Georgina Lowe; casting directors Lucy Bevan and Leo Davis; film critic Anna Smith; and jury chair Alison Thompson, Co-President of Cornerstone Films.
I am delighted to see two amazing, young talented Irish actors being nominated for such a prestigious award – the BAFTAs are among the premier annual film industry awards and to be nominated, particularly in this category recognising emerging new talent, is an honour and a sign of great things to come for both.
Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht