At the 2026 Actor Awards, what character did Jessie Buckley play in Hamnet?

At the 2026 Actor Awards, Jessie Buckley played Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet.

Buckley won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for portraying Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare. The film is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel Hamnet, which imagines the emotional circumstances surrounding the death of Shakespeare’s son.

Agnes is sometimes confused with Shakespeare’s fictionalized literary characters, but she was inspired by Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s real-life wife. In the film, the character is named Agnes, reflecting historical references and the novel’s interpretation of her life.

Buckley’s victory was one of Hamnet’s major achievements at the ceremony. The film was also nominated for the cast award, while Paul Mescal received a supporting-actor nomination for playing William Shakespeare.