Paul Mescal has recalled the bittersweet moment he received the news about his Oscar nomination last month.
The 27-year-old Maynooth actor was nominated for Best Actor for his role in the movie Aftersun. Paul said receiving the news about his Oscar nomination felt "absurd" due to the events happening at the time.
Paul's sister Nell had shared the bittersweet moment on Twitter saying they heard about the Oscar nomination on the day their mum, Dearbhla, was prepping for chemotherapy. Paul told the BBC: "When the nominations came out and the Baftas the week before, something felt slightly absurd about it all.
Read more: Paul Mescal's mum was 'folding washing' when she received Oscar news
"[There is] stuff going on at home that is difficult and this has given my family a very welcome respite and something that, I never thought that my job and something I love very dearly could do."
Nell had said on Twitter: "My mum got a haircut today in prep for her chemotherapy and then Paul got nominated for an Oscar. Life is so crazy." Dearbhla had previously revealed she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer in July last year.
He added: "We're going to have a great time as a family. They're all coming out to LA. The universe works in very interesting ways."
Looking back at his school days, Paul said he wouldn't have taken up acting had it not been for the school musical. He said: "I went to Maynooth Post Primary and in the transition year they do the school musical. They have this policy that regardless of whether you want to be in it or not everybody's going to be in the school musical and you have to audition.
"I definitely wanted to be in the musical but I feel like had it not been for that policy, I could have very much fallen through the cracks. I don't know if I would have had the confidence to turn around to my friends who I was playing sport with and said: 'I want to be in the school musical'."
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