What is it like to be born in the greatest city in the world, then move to Ireland to become the most famous actress of her age and return to the US again before reaching adulthood? This is all about Irish American actress Saoirse Una Ronan, well-known for her performance in epochal dramas since her teenage years. She also received various awards, including the Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for four Oscars and five British Academy Film Awards. More about this girl from the Bronx tells bronxanka.com.
Born in the Bronx and moved to Ireland
As noted by irishcentral, Ronan was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York. Her parents, Monica and Paul Ronan, were Irish emigrants to the USA. They left Ireland due to the economic recession of the 1980s. Saoirse was born in the United States on April 12, 1994. However, this did not mean that in the 90s the family lived better than before. After all, her parents were not just emigrants but illegal immigrants. This meant it was difficult for them to find work. Nevertheless, they looked for it and always found something. The father not only worked in construction and bars but also studied to become an actor. The mother was a nanny and also had some acting experience since childhood. However, after living in the Bronx for three years after the birth of Saoirse, they returned to Ireland. Thus, Saoirse grew up in Ardattin, County Carlow, where she attended Ardattin National School. Later, she also was tutored at home and was brought up as a devout Catholic. However, her faith was not strong. In fact, Saoirse claims that she doubted her faith in childhood.
Interest in an acting career
If you google information about Saoirse, you will find out that she has started acting in films since 2003. At the same time, her first steps in the theater (not acting but just steps) were made when her parents still lived in New York. At that time, her father was studying to be an actor and attended the Bronx Irish Theater, which was created by the outstanding Irish actors Chris O’Neil and Jimmy Smallhorn. Paul Ronan brought his young daughter to this place and the future Hollywood sensation got to know this art in this small Irish establishment. An actor Colin Broderick recalled how Paul showed up with his little girl, Saoirse, and dropped her next to him while he was rehearsing.
Nowadays Saoirse is an adult woman but she remembers the times when her parents wandered with her and without documents. ‘They lived in a terrible little apartment in the Bronx and they were treated very badly and did terrible work because they were illegals.’ The actress also gave examples of the exploitation of immigrants. One day, the owner of a big brown house on the Upper West Side hired her mother to clean there. Afterward, he didn’t pay her. When her father was working in construction, he literally spent hours shoveling shit out of the elevator shaft at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel after a sewer pipe burst.
Then, there was a certain breakthrough in her father’s acting career. Saoirse was in the theater with him and felt that magic. That is how she realized that she wanted to be like her father and become an actress. According to Saoirse, it is due to Chris that she is filming today.
The launch of an acting career
Among the well-known films, Saoirse made her debut on Irish television in the Evidence series. Then, there was an opportunity to get the role of Luna in Harry Potter but she lost it to Evanna Lynch. There was a role in Amy Heckerling’s romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman in 2005, where she starred with Michelle Pfeiffer.
In 2008, Saoirse played the role of Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old aspiring writer in McEwan’s movie Atonement. There she starred with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. For this film, Ronan was nominated for a BAFTA Award (an award from the British Film Academy), a Golden Globe and even an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
She also played the role of the daughter of a poor psychic in the movie Death Defying Acts with Catherine Zeta-Jones. In the City of Ember, she played the role of Lina Mayfleet, a heroic teenage girl who must save the inhabitants of the underground city.
Then there were wonderful, albeit gloomy and even dramatic-scary films with Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci in Peter Jackson’s drama The Lovely Bones. Although the film did not bring profits to the creators and the company, Saoirse received another BAFTA nomination for the Best Actress in a Leading Role.
The influence of parents
In total, she starred in more than 29 movies, several series and short films. Among the iconic works is the movie Brooklyn. Although its name is not Bronx, it is about a young immigrant Irish girl who came to New York in search of a better fate. After acting in this film, Saoirse realized she was telling the story of her parents in it. She said that they had nothing and had been living illegally for several years. They could not leave because they would not be allowed back. Father was a builder and then a bartender. This lasted until he was noticed in the theater.
‘My mother worked as a nanny and she wanted me to be born in the USA and never had problems with visas.’ Now Saoirse has dual citizenship and she says that she is blessed to be able to just move to New York or Los Angeles if she wants to. Her mother attended the first screening of the Brooklyn movie and was the most important critic. Saoirse believed that she was the one to feel whether she portrayed the struggle correctly.
Talking about her acting career, the ex-resident of the Bronx is more than successful. The main thing is to choose proper roles and scenarios.
Personal life and work behind the scenes
Today, Saoirse has Irish and American citizenship. As she says: ‘I don’t know where I’m from. I’m just Irish.’ Still, she also calls herself a resident of New York, the city where she was born. Although, her place of birth is the Bronx.
Also, recalling her life in the Bronx and her first attempts to become an actress in Ireland, she says that she is grateful to her mother for protecting her from awkward situations on the set, supporting her and becoming a friend.
Her life takes place in England, Scotland and Ireland, where she bought a house. Since 2018, she has been in a relationship with Jack Lowden, a Scottish author and co-star in Mary Queen of Scots. That’s why she spends her time between Dublin, London and Scotland.
She refused to use social networks because she believes them to be too stressful. In her opinion, self-promotion through networks makes her feel uncomfortable.
Saoirse Ronan is currently an ambassador for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She also supported the campaign against homelessness, domestic violence and LGBT rights in Ireland and voted for gay marriage in the 2015 Irish constitutional referendums.
This is the life of Bronx native Saoirse Ronan. All this became a reality thanks to tireless work, the desire to do what she loved and the support of parents who saw in their daughter the chance to fulfill their dreams.