"Everyone is cheering in here,” says Ronan with a laugh. She had just walked into the Greenwich Hotel in New York as she spoke to THR on the morning of her nomination. “I ran into a shower, jumped out, and then brushed my hair and rushed over here to do press,” she says. Ronan spoke to her Brooklyn director, John Crowley, right after the nominations and called her friend Eileen O'Higgins, who played Nancy in the movie. “As soon as I heard her voice I cried. She really helped me through some stuff in the film,” says Ronan.

As for the film, Ronan says her view on it continues to morph and change over time. “Before I shot it, I thought, ‘This film is my first Irish film and that’s what it is to me.’ But when we went into it, it took on the role of representing home and homesickness and my relationship with my mom. And then going through all this, I’ve never done this before, it’s been an eye-opener.” After the Oscars, Ronan will jump into her first Broadway play, The Crucible. “It’s a really good time to jump into something like a play. It’s my first one, and I’m absolutely terrified,” she says. “To go from all this industry stuff — which has been really exciting — but I want to go back and do what I do and get to work."

Read more How 'Brooklyn' Mirrors Saoirse Ronan's Own Coming-of-Age Story