BROOKLYN star Saoirse Ronan is leading the Irish invasion of Tinselstown on Sunday night with nine hopefuls in the running for Oscar glory at the Academy Awards in Hollywood.
The 21-year-old is up for the best actress gong for her performance in the hit film adapted from Colm Tóibín's best-selling book.
Born in New York to Irish parents, she has dual citizenship and was just 12-years-old when she received her first Oscar nomination for her stand-out role in Atonement.
In the film, set in 1950’s Ireland and which was shot in Enniscorthy in Co Wexford, she plays a young woman torn between her life at home and the new life she has created in America.
Kerryman Michael Fassbender also is hoping his leading role in Steve Jobs will earn him a gong while the Irish produced film, Room, is up for best picture and best director.
Room's star Brie Larson is also nominated in the best actress category while Irish author Emma Donoghue - on whose award-winning book the film is based - is in the running for best adapted screenplay for her depiction of a mother raising her son in captivity.
The only Irish favourite tipped to take home the Oscar is director Ben Cleary for his short film, Stutterer - his first ever movie.
"We never thought our film would go anywhere near," he said.
"You don’t think about this kind of thing. We’re in this weird, surreal place."
Room's producer Ed Guiney said they knew they were outsiders - but that it was "absolutely great" to be recognised.
"I said to Lenny (Abrahamson, Room's director), months ago that if we got an Oscar nomination we'd regard that as a win and that still holds," he told reporters.
"…You definitely get the strong sense in Hollywood that there's a lot of buzz about the amount of Irish nominees this year."
