When Jessie Buckley was 17, she competed on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s TV show, I’d Do Anything, hoping to win the part of Nancy in a West End production of Oliver!
Many people thought Andrew wanted Jessie to win, but ultimately the public decided, and Jodie Prenger was the one who won instead.
Jessie recently spoke about her experience on a 2008 talent show, saying she felt mistreated and unfairly judged for her appearance.
However, things have recently turned around for the 36-year-old actress, who won a Golden Globe on Sunday night for her performance in Hamnet.
The actress known for her role in War & Peace is now a strong contender for an Oscar, and her career has been quickly gaining momentum.
While despite winning the show, Jodie, 46, has had a different fate.
Jodie, known for her role as Glenda on Coronation Street – sister to George Shuttleworth – later found success performing in the theatre.
Before joining the cast of the popular British soap opera in 2022, she had a successful stage career, appearing in West End productions like Annie, One Man, Two Guvnors, Shirley Valentine, and Kay Mellor’s Fat Friends.
The actress played Helen in the National Theatre’s production of A Taste of Honey, a role she developed after observing the classic British TV show, Coronation Street.
Jodie said landing a main part in the soap opera four years ago was a dream come true. She’d always wanted to be on the show.
She said her character will fit right into Corrie’s tradition of ‘Northern powerhouse women’.
Jodie described Glenda as a vibrant and energetic person, saying she’s both funny and incredibly bold. She even predicted Glenda’s unique fashion sense would become trendy enough to be seen on the runways of Paris. Jodie added that Glenda reminded her a lot of her grandmother, and joked that her nan could actually play the role even better than she could.
The actress, known for her role on the soap opera, has publicly discussed her weight, which has varied over time between sizes 12 and 26.
She had previously declared she was done with dieting, realizing life is too short to focus on weight worries.
Jodie described her weight as fluctuating a lot, saying she sometimes feels good about it and other times doesn’t.
You know, I often find myself reflecting on past goals and realizing I miss the initial excitement and confidence I felt when I first set them. It’s funny, isn’t it? Sometimes I wish I could recapture that original feeling of ambition and possibility, that ‘first big’ feeling, if you will. It’s a reminder that maintaining that initial spark is just as important as achieving the goal itself.
In 2006, Jodie, originally from Blackpool and now living in Lancashire, won the weight loss competition The Biggest Loser on Sky Living, earning a £25,000 prize for her incredible weight loss journey.
She lost an impressive 8 and a half stone in just six months, dropping from 18 stone 2 pounds to 9 stone 9 pounds and reducing her dress size from a 26 to a 12. Her success was so remarkable that she even created and released a weight loss DVD.
She confessed that maintaining the show’s lifestyle proved unsustainable after filming ended, and her weight has varied since then.
She explained that the show taught her a lot about fitness and she liked working out with the group. However, she felt the experience wasn’t realistic because it completely focused on exercise, making it hard to maintain those habits when returning to everyday life.
In 2009, she appeared on The Paul O’Grady Show where she discussed her experiences on The Biggest Loser.
I saw a picture of her after her weight loss, and she actually said she thought she’d gone too far and gotten too thin. It really resonated with me when she said that all women should have curves – I completely agree!
Meanwhile Jessie has had a stratospheric rise since competing on I’d Do Anything.
She doesn’t look back on the experience fondly, stating she experienced ‘unfair objectification’.
In an interview with Vogue, Jessie explained that she was 17 and figuring things out for herself. She talked about the unfair way women are often objectified and said she was simply trying to find her own identity at the time.
I truly hope no young woman ever experiences something as horrific as what happened on that show. I didn’t fully understand the extent of it when it was happening, I just felt a deep sense of distress, which was very upsetting.
Looking back, it was completely crazy. I remember thinking, “Wow, I’m getting a chance to see how things really work, to sing, and to actually be a part of the entertainment world I’d always dreamed of.”
Looking back, I’m amazed by my own bravery. I’m not sure I’d have the courage to do it today, and I wonder if it was just naiveté or simply not knowing any better.
Despite appearing okay publicly, she was privately struggling with her mental health. She explained that she wasn’t doing well at all, experiencing depression and a lot of personal difficulties.
Jessie shared that she experienced significant body shaming, and that attending ‘femininity school’ helped her come to terms with and embrace her developing body.
Jessie finished as runner-up in the competition and was then offered the role of understudy to Jodie in the musical Oliver!. However, she declined the offer in person, going directly to the office of well-known theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh to do so.
She told me she went to his office, rang the doorbell, and said, ‘Is Cameron Mackintosh there? I’m letting you know now that I won’t be accepting the job.’
Jessie found success in theatre and eventually transitioned to television and film, making her first appearance in the 2017 thriller, Beast.
The actress, a graduate of RADA, appeared in BBC shows like War & Peace (2016) and Taboo (2017). However, she truly gained recognition for her performance as an up-and-coming country singer in the 2018 film, Wild Rose.
Although she didn’t win the BAFTA – Renée Zellweger, who played Judy Garland, took home that award – she did win a British Academy Scotland Award for her performance.
Jessie’s career continued to flourish with roles in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl and the FX show Fargo. In 2019, Forbes magazine acknowledged her rising talent by including her on their annual 30 Under 30 list.
Honestly, I think it was her performance in ‘The Lost Daughter’ back in 2021 that really put Olivia Colman on the map for a global audience. She was nominated for a BAFTA – her second, actually – and even received her first Academy Award nomination! While Ariana DeBose took home the awards both times, just getting that recognition was a huge moment for Olivia, and a testament to her incredible talent.
She portrayed a younger version of Olivia Colman’s character, playing Leda, a woman haunted by the regret of leaving her daughters to focus on her academic career.
Playing the role caused Jessie to think back to her upbringing – she grew up in County Kerry, Ireland, as the oldest of five siblings.
Growing up, music and artistic expression were central to her life, nurtured by her father, Tim, who was a musician, and her mother, Marina, a vocal coach.
Jessie hadn’t seen her mother in two years, but they reunited at the London Film Festival premiere of The Lost Daughter. She was the only family member who came from Ireland for the event.
She described the reunion as deeply emotional, explaining that a lot had changed for both of them in the past two years. She was thrilled to be able to share the film with her co-star.
Thinking about her mother, she explained that her mum was a tireless worker. She described how her mum would often return to performing at events just days after giving birth, always putting others first.
It’s challenging to juggle motherhood, marriage, and still maintain your own identity. After watching ‘The Lost Daughter,’ I really started to question who gets to define what makes a ‘good mother.’
Following more award-winning performances, including a Critics Choice nomination for her work in Women Talking and a reunion with Olivia Colman in Wicked Little Letters, she continued to explore the subject of motherhood in the film Hamnet.
Jessie portrays Agnes Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, in a historical film. The movie tells the story of how the couple coped with the tragic death of their son, Hamnet, an event that deeply influenced Shakespeare and ultimately inspired his famous play, Hamlet.
She’s been widely praised for her performance, and many expect her to be nominated for an Oscar when the nominations are announced.
She’s been the frontrunner throughout awards season, winning Best Actress at both the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes.
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2026-01-12 11:37