Markéta Irglová , born February 28th,1988 is a Czech born musician, songwriter, singer and actress with Academy Award under her belt. Till 2008 she lived in Dublin.

Irglová started playing music at a tender age of seven and picked up piano a year later after an it was bought by her parents. The naturalist Marketa also attended lessons on the instrument to refine her skills. Perceiving Irglova’s interest in music her father brought home a guitar for her which she took instantly and played songs without any formal education on Guitar.

Currently she is associated with a member of an Irish rock band Glen Hansard. The band is called The Frames. Marketa Iglova met him when Glen was on a visit to Valašské Meziříčí. Marketa Irglova can be seen playing with Glen for The Swell Season an album featuring an eponymy in 2006; it was released for Overcoat Recordings. Marketa Iglova

also starred along with Hansard in an indie movie Once, under the direction of John Carney in 2007. Irglova and Hansard, now confirmed to be dating, wrote the lyrics for the songs featuring in the movie. The film received an award from World Cinema Audience in Sundance Film Festival of 2007.

One song written by pair for the movie “Once” was “Falling Slowly”, the popular song was honored as Best Original Song at the Academy Award in the year 2008. Marketa Irglová is the first Czech woman to receive an Oscar and also the youngest (19 years) to do so in the category of music. Irglova along with Hansen presented the song at the Oscar broadcast streaming live from Kodak Theater of Los Angeles on 24th February, 2008.

Ironically when the pair went onto the stage to collect the award, Marketa Irglova

speech was tried to cut shorted by the orchestra as they played the music which is played when the awardees leave the stage. However Jon Stewart, the host with his presense of mind requested her to come back to make the speech after the commercial break. Director of the ceremony Gil Cates explained the incident to be a mishap.

What Irglova said gives hope to all the struggling musicians. She said the Oscar was a “big deal” for her and also for many struggling artists as it gave them hope. She averred that the fact that she was standing there shows that one should never give up on his dreams. She began and ended her speech with thanks directed at those people she needed to.

Marketa Irglova’s achievements include a Grammy Award nomination in 2008 for Best Song in a Motion Picture, TV or Other Media, Falling Slowly from Once was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Album Compilation Soundtrack in 2008 for Motion Picture, TV or Other Media.

Irglová and Hansard also made an appearance for the “I'm Not There” song in 2007 which was an adaptation to one of the songs of Bob Dylan You Ain't Going Nowhere.