Each award season, the world gets to latch onto the rise of a newfound star as they pick up trophy after trophy for their extraordinary work. This year, that honor was bestowed upon Jessie Buckley. It’s safe to say that with her massive success in Hamnet, Buckley is an international movie superstar. Winning awards for her performance in Hamnet, she’s become even more recognizable than ever. With newfound notoriety comes the opportunity to dig into her career past and gain insight into the journey that brought her to this moment.
Before she appeared on-screen, Buckley was a West End Wendy, a term for a musical theater actress in London. And during that time, as she was making a name for herself, she appeared on the BBC competition reality series I’d Do Anything. The competition pitted a series of young women against one another in the ultimate casting process, in hopes of winning the role of Nancy in the West End revival of Oliver! While it may have seemed like a blip on the resume, Buckley has recently revealed that the experience was not only informative but also illuminating to the bigger picture of being known as a reality star before being recognized as a serious actress.
Reality TV Was a Necessary Struggle For Jessie Buckley
During the early aughts, being a reality star was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it was an opportunity to pluck everyday individuals from relative obscurity and give them their 15 minutes of fame. But then there was a stigma attached to reality stars, a stain on their careers if they attempted to pursue something “serious.” It was also during that time that anything and everything was thrown at the wall to see if it would stick as a reality TV concept. With talent competitions being the rage, the BBC and Andrew Lloyd Webber found success in creating a theater-based talent series to help find a “new” star to lead well-known revivals. While the viewing audience believed them to be random no-names, in actuality, many of the competitors had been hoofing around audition rooms or appearing in the chorus for ages.
At 17, Buckley put herself out there, revealing to Vogue UK that, during that process, she was “not fully well” and depressed. The series, which was the third in line following talent searches for The Sound of Music and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, was not just performance-based. The contestants had to go through “boot camp,” earn praise from a highly critical judging panel, and win the nation’s adoration. That meant public scrutiny that Buckley was unprepared for. Buckley experienced her treatment on the show as “a lot of body-shaming and bringing me to femininity school.” She revealed, “I was growing into my body. I was 17. I was in a moment of discovery. As women, it’s such unfair objectification.“
She noted that she wasn’t sure whether it was innocence or ignorance, but she wouldn’t have been brave enough to do it now. The series’ runner-up noted, “Back then, I was just trying to move into a space of myself.” Though defeated, the actress forged her own path in theater, turning down the opportunity to understudy the winner, Jodie Prenger. In hindsight, it was the right move.
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Jessie Buckley’s Ascension in Hollywood Is Familiar
Buckley’s experience on reality TV is significant because not everyone who goes on a competition show has the platform she has now. It serves to warn others about what it’s really like. At that time, reality TV was set up as an opportunity for dreams to come true, but it came with stakes. “I was just lost. When you’re told, culturally, in different ways, that you have to kind of mold yourself into a shape that doesn’t naturally fit you, in some ways you incubate that messaging, and then it becomes self-destructive,” she revealed. Talent competition reality shows are the ultimate casting call. You’re auditioning for more than just a room of creatives. Rather than let it deter her, Buckley has used that career moment to propel her forward and, as she put it, “unravel myself from the sort of miseducation.”
The significance of Buckley’s reality TV past is that she’s not alone in the pipeline of reality star to mega award winner. The most obvious example was Jennifer Hudson from American Idol to EGOT, but Emma Stone first appeared on the short-lived VH1 show, The Search for the Next Partridge Family. Buckley’s rise from reality TV to Hollywood stardom is helping to destigmatize the reality TV “stink.” Talented individuals, no matter where they came up, are being revered for their talent. Perhaps it’s because the pool is getting bigger, but getting a head start via reality television has become a gift. That said, Buckley’s experience serves as a warning. You must be mentally and emotionally prepared for the massive life change.
Hamnet is currently out in theaters.
- Release Date
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November 26, 2025
- Runtime
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126 minutes
- Director
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Chloé Zhao
