Saoirse Ronan's 10 Most Iconic Acting Roles
Check out Saoirse Ronan's best movies to celebrate her 29th birthday.
While her name is often a point of mispronunciation, Saoirse Ronan is undoubtedly one of Hollywood's top talents of recent years. After her making her breakout performance in Atonement, the Irish actress received her first Academy Award nomination at just 12 years old. While she continued to take on roles throughout her teen years, even making her Broadway debut in The Crucible in 2016, it's her most recent credits that have truly brought her to the forefront of the award circuit.
In 2017, Ronan joined Greta Gerwig's directorial debut Lady Bird in the titular role alongside Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, and Timothée Chalamet. The film earned her Best Actress nominations at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars and began a recurring partnership between herself, Gerwig, and Chalamet. The three worked together again for Gerwig's 2019 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, with Ronan and Chalamet starring as Jo and Laurie. Obviously, her on-screen chemistry with the actor has caught the eye of other directors because the two appered in Wes Anderson's film The French Dispatch, which was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When she's not on set, Ronan leads a quiet life at her home on the Irish coast near Dublin. She does not use social media, noting that she finds it "too stressful." While she keeps her personal life close to the vest, it's been heavily reported that she and her Mary Queen of Scots co-star Jack Lowden have been dating since 2018, though the two have never confirmed it. In 2022, the two were spotted walking their dog together in London, evidently pointing to a romance.
In honor of her 29th birthday, L'OFFICIEL celebrates some of Ronan's best films (plus one music video) and looks forward to what's in store for her career.
At only 12 years old, Ronan made her breakout performance as a young Briony Tallis in Atonement alongside Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. After witnessing a crime, Briony names the wrong man as the perpetrator, sending her older sister's boyfriend to jail for a crime he didn't commit.
Two years later, Ronan starred in this heartbreaking film as Susie Salmon, a high school freshman who was kidnapped and murdered on her way home. While wading between Earth and the afterlife, Susie tries to help her family find peace after her passing.
The actress changed her look drastically for the role of Hanna, sporting bleached hair and brows. The film follows a girl whose ex-CIA father raised her to be an assassin as she goes on the run from a spy (Cate Blanchett) intent on killing her and her father.
In 2014, Ronan played Agatha, a young baker and the protagonist Zero's girlfriend in The Grand Budapest Hotel. This film began a relationship between the actress and acclaimed film director Wes Anderson.
Based on the novel of the same name, Brooklyn tells the story of a young Irish woman Ellis who moves to Brooklyn in search of a new life. There, she meets and begins a relationship with Tony. However, when her mother dies, she must return to Ireland and help her family. However, before she can return to her new home overseas, she meets a local man who she develops feelings for as well. The period role earned Best Actress nominations at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards in 2016.
Lady Bird follows Ronan's character Christine (who prefers her chosen name "Lady Bird") as she carries out the final year of her Catholic high school in Sacramento, California circa 2002. While she enjoys teenage life with her friends, she longs of moving to New York or at least "somewhere with culture" which causes friction with her mother (Laurie Metcalf). Much of the film was inspired by director Greta Gerwig's own life. The film won Best Comedy or Musical at the 2018 Golden Globes, while Ronan also took home the award for Best Actress.
While she's technically from Dublin, the Irish star played Ed Sheeran's eponymous love interest in the music video for his song "Galway Girl." While having a night out on the town, Ronan gets the couple in a bit of trouble—hence, her troubled look.
While many of her other roles have required Ronan to take on an American or British accent, this role gave the star a chance to try her tongue at Scottish. She played the titular role opposite Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth, two warring cousins allowing the men that advise them to divide them. While filming, Ronan and Robbie stayed away from each other so that when they did eventually come together for the climactic scene, the emotion would be authentic.
In 2019, Ronan and Timothée Chalamet once again acted under Gerwig's direction in the newest film adaption of Little Women. Around the time of the film's release, Chalamet opened up about their working relationship. “In the least clichéd way possible, it really doesn’t feel like [I’m] acting sometimes [with her],” Chalamet told Entertainment Weekly. “When it’s someone you’re actually friends with, it makes it easier.”
Ronan's Wes Anderson project gained major attention for its all-star cast. Actress Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, and Frances McDormand join Ronan and Chalamet in this picture about a French satellite office of a Kansas newspaper. The film has been described as a "love letter to journalists."