After only six movies and two starring roles, Saoirse Ronan’s resume is anything but unimpressive.
At only 15, Ronan has won nine awards and had 14 nominations, including Golden Globe, Oscar, and BAFTA nominations for supporting actress in Atonement.
Ronan is the seventh youngest actress to have been nominated for an Oscar for supporting actress.
The Irish actress grew up close to the movie industry, often accompanying her father, actor Paul Ronan, to his movie sets. Paul Ronan is known for such films as The Devil's Own and Veronica Guerin.
In 2003, at only eight years old, Ronan got her start as a guest star on The Clinic, a popular Irish television drama. After four episodes, she went on to guest in “Proof,” an Irish Soap.
It wasn’t until 2007, when Ronan was 13, that she landed her first supporting role on the silver screen.
In I Could Never Be Your Woman, a romantic comedy about a mother and daughter both falling in love consecutively, Ronan played Izzie, a pre-teen budding musician.
Ronan had three other movies that year - The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey, Death Defying Acts, and her breakthrough role as the young Briony in Atonement.
Ronan’s most recently played Susie Salmon, the lead character in The Lovely Bones.
In an interview with the Highlander, Ronan talked about life as a 15 year old actress just starting to leap into fame.
Between finding time for an education, deciding which of her friends are real and which are fake, and being away from her home in Ireland, Ronan has already experienced the down side of fame. Her passion and drive for acting, however, have kept her going.
While on the set of The Lovely Bones, Ronan had homework just like any other typical high school girl. The difference was that along with science and history, she had to memorize lines and blocking for scenes shot with nothing but a blue screen.
“I had to keep up with my school work,” Ronan said. “It was hard, because I would come from doing a very intense scene on set, and then I’d have to go in and study about World War I or something. That was sometimes difficult, but it has to be done.”
Ronan plans to further her education eventually, after she has had some time to pursue acting.
“I think I’m going to do both [continue acting and go to college],” Ronan said. “I don’t think I could give up acting right now. I have a passion for it, and I don’t think it would be something that I could just leave now. But, my education is very important to me, so I would like to go to University, and I think I might study film.”
Along with worrying about both the next scene and the next math test, Ronan sometimes had the burden of wondering whether her new friend was real.
“With this job, you’re going to find people who are not genuine,” Ronan said. “Who you think have your best interests, but don’t necessarily have that. I’ve met a few people who’ve been like that, who you would trust, but then you realize that they’re not actually that person. So, I think you just have to be aware of who the real people are and who your true friends are.”
Ronan also has the stress of being away from her home whenever she is shooting a film. She commutes between Ireland and LA whenever she can, which is over 5,100 miles.
“I like Hollywood, but it’s very, very different to Ireland,” Ronan said. “I live in the country. I don’t even live in the city of Dublin. So, it’s nice to go from one place to the other, but it’s always very nice to come back home as well, and do thing that country girls do, like play with animals and things like that.”
Ronan also had to exchange her thick Irish accent for an American one in The Lovely Bones.
“I’ve got a really strong Irish accent,” Ronan said. “It was changed to an American accent, but it was slightly more on the Eastern side because it’s set in Pennsylvania.”
As far as future ambitions in film, Ronan would love to do a romantic comedy. Her past few films have been anything but light-hearted, and Ronan acknowledges comedies as her favorite type of movies.
Ronan lists Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Natalie Portman as influences and actors she would love to work with.
Saoirse Ronan is an actress who is clearly going places. She has had more awards and nominations in the seven years she has been acting than most actors achieve in their whole careers.
“I think the most important thing is to be educated in film,” Ronan said. “In other actors past and present, and just to make sure that it’s definitely what you want to do. Talk to people who maybe have the same interests as you. And if you’re lucky enough to get a break, just make sure that you’re level headed and you’ve got the right people around you.”
