Meet Isabelle Connolly as Oscar rumours swirl around ‘next Saoirse Ronan’

The star of Oscar-nominated and IFTA-winning short film Calf has laughed off comparisons to Saoirse Ronan, despite her growing CV featuring roles alongside the likes of Paul Mescal and Emily Watson.

Isabelle Connolly, from Celbridge, County Kildare, is a huge fan of the ‘fantastic’ four-time champion. Oscar applicant Ronanbut she said she would ‘never try to imitate’ what other actresses do – ‘because I never do’. Instead, the rising star is more modest in her stated ambition as a screen actress – ‘to be able to do this for a living for the rest of my life’.

‘I think the more you think about things, if your hopes are high (and it doesn’t happen), the more it feels like a downfall,’ he told the Irish Mail on Sunday. ‘I just take every opportunity that comes along and I’m grateful to be working on anything because it’s so hard to get any work.’

But the 26-year-old is moving on to bigger things and has won praise at film festivals around the world for her leading role in Jamie O’Rourke’s Calf, a film about domestic violence set in rural Ireland.

Isabelle Connolly to star in new series next year BAFTA and Emmy award-winning author Mark Gatiss (Dr Who, Sherlock), a ‘whodunit’ novel called Bookish.

She also landed a super role in the 2022 psychological drama God’s Creatures Emily Watson and his friend Paul Mescal from Kildare.

‘It was so sweet,’ she said of the Gladiator sequel star. ‘It’s just funny because it’s crazy to think he’s so successful now and doing so much good work, and he’s just up the road from Maynooth. He really deserves it. He’s really talented.’

Isabelle Connolly had a scene with Aidan Gillen, another major Irish acting export, in the 2023 Irish crime drama Barber. “It was great to see how he operated and how he was just a normal person despite being at that point in his career,” the actress said of the Game of Thrones star. “He had a lot of personality, he was very kind and there was no intimidation.”

‘That’s usually what happens when a big name comes to work on a small film,’ he said.

‘Everyone is just chatting and joking around, unless it’s a serious scene.’

‘It’s just like any other workplace – people are there 14 hours a day, they just want to be around friendly people and I’ve never met any (players) who weren’t that way.’

Without getting directly into their brains, you could say that working with bigger stars has taught Connolly the importance of taking the time to ‘get into the mindset’ of a character before rushing into a scene.

“A lot of what I see is confidence, and when you’re stepping up, it’s hard to have that level of confidence around other established actors because you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes (by taking the extra time to get into that moment),” Isabelle Connolly said.

The actor, who said that being on set and in costume was a “really fun experience” regardless of whether it was a big or small role, said the role he enjoyed the most was the Roman period drama Domino, which was shot in Rome, Italy, last year.

‘There was a group of young actors and we all lived in the same street just across from Trastevere,’ he recalls. ‘We were there for six months and they were all very kind.’

‘It was a really fun experience as it was my first time out of the house.’

Unsurprisingly, the talented actor is less than thrilled about the prospect of Calf making it all the way to the Oscars next year, but the film has earned a longlist thanks to its success at several global film festivals.

But director Jamie O’Rourke promised to give her a seat on the plane if it happened.

“The potential of going to the Oscars would be a dream,” Connolly said. “Just to go. If nothing happens for me (career-wise), I don’t care. I’d love to do it.”

O’Rourke admitted the possibility of a night at the Oscars was “still a long shot” but it was “pleasant” to see the film being received so warmly around the world – “from Palm Springs (California) to Busan (South Korea) to Finland”.

“I think it reflects the universality of the issue (of domestic violence),” he said.

‘The figures for domestic violence vary slightly from country to country, but they don’t vary much and they are not decreasing.’

The Tipperary-born filmmaker, who has spent most of her life in Dublin, came up with the idea for the script after working as an editor on a documentary about domestic violence, although none of the ‘horrific’ stories featured in the documentary directly inspired her.

‘One in four women will experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetime, so we all know someone, whether we know it or not,’ she said.

The short story writer has made three acclaimed short films so far and loves the art form, but hopes to move into feature films soon and feels there could be no better country to do it in.

“I don’t think there is a country like this. We talk about our innate ability to tell stories as if it’s part of our DNA, and that’s partly true, but I think that only tells half the story,” he said.

O’Rourke said that Screen Ireland and Virgin Media, which funded Calf’s film after its script won a competition, were “making a huge investment in the next generation”.

He said: ‘Every year there are about 30 applications for people to make short films. And if you go to the US, unless you have private money and can pay the guild rate, you won’t win anything.’