Saoirse Will Surely Shine In Our, Eh, Shire

Meh

rom the moment she pretty much stole the show at the age of 12 in Joe Wright’s Atonement, it’s been pretty obvious that Saoirse Úna Ronan is a special kind of actor.

Sure, how else to explain the two Oscar nominations – Best Supporting Actress for the above, and Best Actress for 2015’s Brooklyn – at such a tender age?

Well, the New York-born, Carlow-raised actor is about to become even more special, simply by moving to Greystones.

Frustratingly failing to secure one of those luxury, VIP apartments in Kindlestown Park, and clearly tired of her Howth hideaway, young Ronan had to settle instead for the Burnaby, paying a reported €1m for a property there. Or thereabouts, to be more precise.

Having recently completed Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen Of Scots, along with Michael Mayer’s adaptation of Chekov’s The Seagull,  Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed Lady Bird, Dominic Cooke’s On Chesil Beach and the recently-released Loving Vincent, the ever-busy Ronan will have to wait until December before putting her feet up in her new home.

There’s every chance that mum Monica (a former child performer, incidentally) and pop Paul (a noted actor) will be joining their only child for some Christmas craic agus crackers.

Not the first famous face to grace the Burnaby (Gene Wilder, most notably, having shacked up there back in 1969)  nor the first Oscar-nominated actor (Burnaby-born Geraldine Fitzgerald nabbing her Academy nod opposite Laurence Olivier in William Wyler’s 1939 take on Wuthering Heights), Saoirse will undoubtedly be a very welcome addition to the place.

Of course, she’ll have to put the time in to truly belong here…

In the meantime, back in a previous life, GG spoke with Saoirse for Peter Jackson’s 2010 misfire, The Lovely Bones, and we even waxed lyrical about the beauty of Wicklow…

Now, go check out Wicklow’s only truly posh address right here, and our town’s love affair with Hollywood here.