Thaddea Graham, the Northern Irish actress whose credits include Netflix's Sex Education and Apple TV's Bad Sisters and Margo's Got Money Troubles, will be honored at the 21st annual Oscar Wilde Awards.
The event, organized by the US-Ireland Alliance, is scheduled for March 11 at the Ebell in Los Angeles, holding its traditional evening slot three days before the Academy Awards. The ceremony celebrates the work of Irish figures, as well as some who are not Irish, who contribute to film, television and music.
Graham, 29, will receive the Wilde Card Award, an honor that US-Ireland Alliance president Trina Vargo said "is presented to someone we expect you'll hear a lot more from." Past recipients include Saoirse Ronan, Barry Keoghan, Sarah Bolger and Graham's Bad Sisters co-star Eve Hewson. Irish American actor Jack Reynor was announced as an honoree last month, and attendees will also see a performance by Irish synth-pop singer Shobsy.
Graham's recent film work includes an appearance last year alongside Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield and Michael Stuhlbarg in Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt. She has reunited with the Italian director for the upcoming film Artificial, in which Garfield plays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. She also appeared in Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly (2025) as the personal assistant to George Clooney's actor character.
Born in China, Graham was found as a days-old infant on the steps of a building in Changsha. She was adopted at 13 months and brought by her parents to County Down, becoming one of the first Chinese-born children adopted in Northern Ireland.
"I always say I would not be here had it not been for the kindness of strangers," she told The London Times in April. "From the earliest days of someone stopping and seeing I'd been left, picking me up and looking after me, I've seen that kindness throughout my life, from my parents, who are wonderful, through school and the support of my teachers. My primary-school teacher introduced a Chinese New Year celebration, which she continues even though I'm not there anymore."
On screen, Graham first drew wider notice in 2021 playing the leader of Sherlock Holmes' band of street urchins in Netflix's The Irregulars, while also recurring on the BBC's Doctor Who. She went on to play the therapist O in the final season of Sex Education in 2023, then won praise as the stubborn detective Una Houlihan in the second season of Bad Sisters in 2024 and as the roommate of Elle Fanning's character in Margo's Got Money Troubles this year.
Speaking to the Times after an FYC Emmy event for Bad Sisters last year, Graham said she "had a lot of people coming up to me from Asian backgrounds saying, 'It's amazing seeing you in this show. It's amazing seeing you as one of the lead characters. We so admire the kind of representation people are taking over there. And also for you to have a different accent, for you not to have the accent people might expect.'"
Shobsy, who will perform at the ceremony, completed a U.K. and European tour last year with SO Recordings labelmates MY BABY before appearing at SXSW. In July, he performed at an Irish music industry showcase hosted by Ireland's president, Catherine Connolly, at her Dublin residence. He recently released the EP The World Will Not Remember along with a new single, "Perfect."
