Saoirse Ronan Had 2 Oscar Nominations by the Time She Was 20, and That's Just the Beginning

Saoirse's work in Atonement won her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress, making her one of the youngest Oscar nominees in history. She was nominated again in 2016 for her work in Brooklyn, and she got another nod this year for Lady Bird.

Though you'd never know it from her accent, Saoirse was actually born in The Bronx, NY. In a story that echoes that of her character in Brooklyn, her Dublin-born parents emigrated to the US in search of opportunity. The family returned to Ireland when Saoirse was 3. She has dual Irish and American citizenship.

Saoirse was in the running to play Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, eventually losing out to Evanna Lynch. She told The Independent, I was too young — but at the time I thought, 'I'd love to be in Harry Potter.' When I was younger, I used to think they had the best job in the world."

Few 11-year-old Irish kids could pull of an American accent the way Saoirse did in I Could Never Be Your Woman (her very first film, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd). Since then, she's tackled a number of different accents and dialects. In fact, she told Variety in an interview that she's never used her own accent on film, even when playing and Irish woman Brooklyn.

Saoirse's first kiss is formerly immortalised in the film I Could Never Be Your Woman. She told W magazine, "I asked [director Amy Heckerling] how many seconds I had to kiss this poor boy for. It was three seconds, and everyone of those takes consisted of a three-second kiss—no more, no less. I suffered for the art. We did about eight takes. I was a phenomenal kisser by the end."

Saoirse seems to have a predilection for scripts adapted from novels, no doubt due to her early success in Atonement. Along with that there's Brooklyn, The Host, How I Live Now, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and perhaps most famously, The Lovely Bones. Allegedly, Peter Jackson cast her in the adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel as he was looking for an "unknown" to play Susie Salmon. But then Atonement came out, and the rest is history!

Saoirse's also completed work on On Chesil Beach, adapted from another novel by Atonement writer Ian McEwan.

Saoirse credits stylist Elizabeth Saltzman for her red carpet style. The stylist encouraged her to try colours and textures she'd previously avoided, and now Saoirse is now well known for her experimental, feminine style. She's turned heads on the red carpet in memorable looks from the likes of Valentino, Christopher Kane, and Calvin Klein.

Move over, Adelaide Kane. Saoirse's next big role is playing the titular character in the historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, alongside her fellow Oscar nominee Margot Robbie, who'll be barely recognisable as Queen Elizabeth I.