Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley has been keeping directors ‘in the spotlight’ since she was a kid

To exclude, to expel:

Actress Jessie Buckley, 32, was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in The Lost Daughter, which pits her against Judi Dench for Belfast and Kirsten Dunst for The Power of the Dog.

If Jessie Buckley wins an Oscar tonight, one of her former directors has every right to say I told you so.

Jessie, 32, was nominated for best supporting actress for The Lost Daugter, opposite Judi Dench for Belfast and Kirsten Dunst of The Power of the Dog.

But Jessie’s star qualities were evident from the time she was a child. Friends at a local theater group said she was always “outstanding and giving her best,” even in Joseph’s children’s play and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Director Oliver Hurley was amazed at her talent when, at the age of 17, she auditioned for the lead role of Julie Jordan in Carousel at the Killarney Musical Society production facility in her native Ireland.

He said: “I saw that in her, that day she entered the Carousel audition.

“I told my friends that one day she would get an Oscar.

“She blew us all away – we were hunted.

“We’ve seen experienced women in their 20s and 30s, but she walked in and read – I’ll never forget that – and there was no doubt she joined.

“She plays a strong woman who has to contend with an abusive man – the kind of strong grit she is now known for.”

Oliver, 57, said: “She was never the typical kid at your theater school.

“The people who nurtured her talent were so relaxed, they allowed her to express herself.

“Jessie is really fun, playful and laid-back – she still is. She’s professional down to the thumb.

“People joined an amateur music club for a bit of fun but, my God, she was going to rehearse and everyone lifted her spirits.”

Jessie’s career began in 2008 after she finished second to Jodie Prenger in I’d Do Anything, a BBC series looking for someone to be Nancy in the revival of the musical Oliver!

Since then, she appeared in War & Peace in 2016, opposite Tom Hardy in Taboo and as the wife of a dying firefighter in the critically acclaimed Chernobyl series.

Oliver, who lives in Tralee, near Killarney, thinks her depiction of oversized young mother Leda in the Netflix psychological drama The Lost Daughter could help her win an Oscar.

He said, “Today I burst with pride as I remember the young girl who auditioned many years ago.”