Oscar Wilde Awards: Thaddea Graham Selected for Wilde Card Honor

Thaddea Graham will receive the Wilde Card Award at the 21st annual Oscar Wilde Awards ceremony on March 11. The event is organized by the US-Ireland Alliance and will take place at the Ebell in Los Angeles. This date falls three days before the Academy Awards.

Trina Vargo, president of the US-Ireland Alliance, described the Wilde Card Award as an honor for an artist the organization expects the public to hear more about. Graham joins a list of previous recipients that includes Saoirse Ronan, Barry Keoghan, Sarah Bolger, and Eve Hewson. Irish American actor Jack Reynor was announced as an honoree in October. The ceremony will also feature a musical performance by Irish synth-pop artist Shobsy.

Graham, 29, is known for her roles in the Netflix series Sex Education and Apple TV+ productions Bad Sisters and Margo's Got Money Troubles. Her recent film work includes a part in Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt, which starred Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, and Michael Stuhlbarg. She is also set to appear in Guadagnino's upcoming film Artificial, where Garfield portrays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Additionally, she played the personal assistant to George Clooney's character in Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly, released in 2025.

The actress was born in China and found as an infant on the steps of a building in Changsha. Her adoptive parents brought her to County Down in Northern Ireland at 13 months of age. She was among the first Chinese-born children adopted in that region. Graham credited strangers and family for her survival and early development in an April interview with The London Times. She specifically mentioned her primary school teacher, who introduced Chinese New Year celebrations in the classroom.

Graham first gained wider attention in 2021 as the leader of Sherlock Holmes' street urchins in the Netflix series The Irregulars. She also held a recurring role on the BBC series Doctor Who. In 2023, she played the therapist O in the final season of Sex Education. Her performance as detective Una Houlihan in the second season of Bad Sisters in 2024 drew praise from critics and audiences. She appeared in Margo's Got Money Troubles this year as the roommate of Elle Fanning's character.

In an interview with The Times after a Bad Sisters event last year, Graham discussed the reaction she received from audiences with Asian backgrounds. She noted that many viewers appreciated seeing her in a lead role with a distinct Northern Irish accent, rather than the accent they might have expected from her appearance.

Shobsy, the musical performer for the event, completed a tour of the United Kingdom and Europe with MY BABY last year. He also appeared at the South by Southwest music festival. In July, he performed at an Irish music industry showcase hosted by President Catherine Connolly in Dublin. The artist recently released the EP The World Will Not Remember and the single Perfect.