Amybeth McNulty is famous for playing Anne Shirley-Cuthbert in the Netflix series Anne with an E. After the show wrapped, McNulty landed the role of Vickie in season 4 of Stranger Things, which boosted her popularity even further. She is set to reprise the part in season five of the series.
Amybeth McNulty’s mother died in November 2021; her father passed away in December 2023
Amybeth McNulty was born on November 7, 2001, to an Irish father and a Canadian mother in County Donegal, Ireland. McNulty also has Scottish heritage.
She announced the death of her mom in November 2021, a year after her grandmother’s death. “I don’t have many words but I want the world to see how wonderful you were and how proud I am to be your daughter,” McNulty wrote on Instagram on November 18, 2021. Several months later, McNulty urged netizens to stop spreading speculation about her mom’s death.
“This is a difficult time for everyone who knew her,” she wrote on her Instagram Story in mid-February 2022. “I would really appreciate privacy over this and unfortunately I do see what is being said online. Thank you to those who have been so loving and respectful, it means the world.” McNulty got a tattoo of a flower fairy below her ribcage as a tribute to her family’s departed matriarchs.
McNulty announced her father’s passing in mid-December 2023. She captioned an Instagram post, “Dad. You are everything I’ve admired and all I aspire to become. The kindest soul I will ever know.Thank you for all the love you gave. My love will endlessly continue to grow, even without you. Rest well my love.”
McNulty drew inspiration for her role in Anne with an E from her great-grandmother’s life
McNulty didn’t meet her great-grandmother, but she learned a lot about her difficult upbringing from her grandmother. She related her great-grandmother’s life to the life of Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, her character in Anne with an E. McNulty told the Irish Mirror:
“As far as I know it was two men and things would happen where they would say ‘go get me a glass of water’ and if she got back to them and there wasn’t still bubbles in the water from her pouring it in, she would have to go back downstairs and do it until she got it right. It’s a shame I never met her, but I really did draw on her circumstances.”
McNulty told the outlet that people in Canada, where Anne with an E was filmed, thought she sounded very Irish. “They can barely understand me when I’m talking normally there,” she said. Conversely, people in her native Ireland opined that she sounded very Canadian.