Saoirse Una Ronan was born in The Bronx, New York, to Irish parents, Monica Ronan née Brennan and actor, Paul Ronan. When Saoirse was three, the family moved back to Dublin. Saoirse grew up in Dublin and briefly in Co Carlow before moving back to Dublin with her parents.

Saoirse made her first TV appearance with a small role in a few episodes of the TV series, The Clinic (2003). Her first film appearance was in the 2007 movie, I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007). Saoirse received international fame after appearing in the movie, Atonement (2007), which was directed by Joe Wright. The movie co-starred Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. The film was successful, both critically and commercially, and in 2008, Saoirse earned an Oscar nomination for her role. She became one of the youngest actresses to be nominated for an Oscar. She continued to earn success and fame. Between 2008 to 2011, she starred in a number of successful movies, including City of Ember (2008), which earned her a nomination for Irish Film & Television Award, The Lovely Bones (2009), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, and The Way Back (2010), for which she won Irish Film & Television Award for Actress in a Supporting Role.

In 2016, Ronan was nominated for her second Oscar for ‘Brooklyn.’ She became the second youngest actress to receive two Oscar nominations at the age of 21. The youngest actress is Angela Lansbury. In 2018, Ronan was nominated for her third Oscar for ‘Lady Bird.’ She’s the second youngest actress (first being Jennifer Lawrence) to receive three Oscar nominations before the age of 24. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress; and received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award nomination; and a SAG Award nomination for Best Actress.

Ronan starred in the music video for the Ed Sheeran ‘Galway Girl’ (2017) as the titular character. Ronan featured alongside Annette Bening in a film adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull in May 2018. She also starred as Mary Stuart in the period drama Mary Queen of Scots, co-starring Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I of England.

Ronan holds dual Irish and American citizenship. She lives in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

She is an ambassador for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She is also part of an organisation called ‘Home Sweet Home’, led by celebrities like Hozier and Glen Hansard. In 2016,this organisation illegally took over an office building in Dublin to house 31 homeless families. In the same year, Ronan was featured by Forbes in two of their 30 Under 30 lists and in Time‘s Next Generation Leaders list. In 2018, she was featured in Maxim‘s “Hot 100” list and was named among the best American actors under 30 by IndieWire. Also that year, Calvin Klein appointed her and Lupita Nyong’o as the face of Raf Simons’ first fragrance for the company, named Women.  She was ranked one of the best dressed women in 2018 by fashion website Net-a-Porter.

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