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COVER STORY:EVEN FANS OF The Clinicand Proofwere sideswiped by the rapid rise of young Saoirse Ronan. Before she whipped Atonementfrom under the noses of pros such as Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, the young actor, now 15, had done little else but play recurring roles in those RTÉ series. Here in Ireland, we like to hype our rising talent, but nobody saw that performance coming, writes DONALD CLARKE

Then, to add to the surprise, she turned out to have an engaging way with the media. Unlike some child actors – who deserve to be sent to bed with no Baftas – she seemed to have mastered the act of seeming (or, let’s be fair, being) impressively normal.