# Amybeth McNulty
**Amybeth McNulty** (born 2001) is an Irish-Canadian actress from [Letterkenny](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterkenny), County Donegal, Ireland, best known for playing the title role in the CBC/Netflix series *Anne with an E* (2017–2019), an adaptation of [Lucy Maud Montgomery](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucy-maud-montgomery)'s 1908 novel *Anne of Green Gables*, and for playing Vickie in *Stranger Things* from its fourth season[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 2001, Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) |
| Breakthrough role | Anne Shirley in *Anne with an E*, 2017–2019, 27 episodes[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) |
| Casting | Chosen from more than 1,800 contenders after auditioning online and in person[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/) |
| *Stranger Things* | Vickie, 2022–2025, 8 episodes[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) |
| Awards | 2019 ACTRA Toronto Award, Outstanding Performance – Female[3](https://sudokucool.com/ckfinder/userfiles/files/sopalel-dirusizaje-jamaraf-tewokeno.pdf) |
| Film credits | *Morgan* (2016), *Black Medicine* and *All My Puny Sorrows* (2021), *She Came Back* (2024), *Ballistic* (2025)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) |
## Early life and training
McNulty was born in Letterkenny, County Donegal, the only daughter of an Irish father and a Canadian mother, Siobhan McNulty, who is from Calgary; she also has Scottish heritage. She was homeschooled and trained in acting and ballet as a member of An Grianán Theatre's Youth Theatre in Letterkenny[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) • [4](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/how-a-letterkenny-teenager-shone-on-the-small-screen-as-an-accidental-feminist-1.3086495). In a 2025 interview she described herself as a shy, homeschooled child who read five books a day and was "a real nerd about the Victorian era and feminism"[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/).
Her early work moved between stage and screen. At age 10 she landed a role in a London production of *The Sound of Music*, playing Marta von Trapp at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and she appeared in West End productions including *Annie*, *Les Misérables*, *White Christmas*, and *Oliver!*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) • [4](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/how-a-letterkenny-teenager-shone-on-the-small-screen-as-an-accidental-feminist-1.3086495). Her first television roles were as young Agatha in *Agatha Raisin* (Sky 1, 2014), Jenny Rane in four episodes of the RTÉ miniseries *Clean Break* (2015), and Sputnik in CBBC's *The Sparticle Mystery*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/) • [5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/amybeth-mcnulty/).
## Anne with an E
McNulty's breakthrough came when she was cast, at 14, as [Anne Shirley](https://www.edgepedia.org/anne-shirley) in *Anne with an E*, created by the Emmy-winning *Breaking Bad* writer Moira Walley-Beckett. She beat more than 1,800 other contenders after auditioning online from Donegal and then in person in Toronto; her audition tapes were too large for her home wifi to send, so staff at An Grianán uploaded them for her[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/) • [4](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/how-a-letterkenny-teenager-shone-on-the-small-screen-as-an-accidental-feminist-1.3086495). [The Canadian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-canadian) producers hired her with five days' notice for six months of filming on [Prince Edward Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/prince-edward-island) and in Ontario, and her Canadian passport, through her mother, allowed her to travel[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/).
The series, a CBC and Netflix co-production, is a grittier reimagining of Montgomery's novel: an orphan girl is mistakenly sent to live with the aging siblings Matthew (R.H. Thomson) and Marilla Cuthbert ([Geraldine James](https://www.edgepedia.org/geraldine-james)) on their Prince Edward Island farm in the 1890s, and the show depicts Anne's abusive early childhood, which previous adaptations had left out[6](https://time.com/4767986/netflix-anne-of-green-gables-adaptation-series/). McNulty appeared in all 27 episodes across three seasons and also performed several songs on the show's soundtrack[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/). Critics responded strongly to her performance: season one holds an 83 percent Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic's round-up quoted a critic calling McNulty "entirely irresistible" as Anne[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/anne/s01) • [8](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/anne-with-an-e/critic-reviews/). The Guardian described her as "one of those haunting child actors who can actually act"[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/12/anne-with-an-e-netflix-green-gables).
The initial reaction to the first trailer was hostile, with viewers attacking her looks and accent, something McNulty later called her first encounter with the negative side of the internet[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/). When Netflix canceled the show after three seasons, the response was unusually large: an online petition gathered 1.5 million signatures, fans paid for billboard illustrations of McNulty in Toronto and in New York's Times Square, and [Ryan Reynolds](https://www.edgepedia.org/ryan-reynolds) was among the actors who lent support[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/) • [10](https://www.ihca.ie/_fileupload/Gen%2020%20-%20006%20Attachment%2011%20Sunday%20Times%2026%20Jan%202020.pdf). She won the 2019 ACTRA Toronto Award for Outstanding Performance, Female, for the role[3](https://sudokucool.com/ckfinder/userfiles/files/sopalel-dirusizaje-jamaraf-tewokeno.pdf).
## Stranger Things and later work
After the series ended, McNulty took film roles in *Black Medicine* and *All My Puny Sorrows* (both 2021) and *She Came Back* (2024), and co-starred with [Lena Headey](https://www.edgepedia.org/lena-headey) as Diana in the action thriller *Ballistic* (2025)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/). In 2021 she auditioned for *Stranger Things* without being told the show's name; the character names were changed, but she guessed from the scene, taped herself in [Oxfordshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/oxfordshire), and was cast as Vickie[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/). Vickie, a Hawkins High School band member who becomes the love interest of [Robin Buckley](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-buckley) (Maya Hawke), was introduced in season four and became Robin's girlfriend in the fifth and final season[11](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/are-stranger-things-robin-and-vickie-still-together-duffers-weigh-my-thoughts). McNulty has spoken about the value of a queer storyline treated with casualness rather than as the central drama of a show[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/).
She has lived in London for about five years and, despite a large online following of about 6 million Instagram accounts, is not widely recognized in Ireland or Britain by name[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/).
## References
1. [Amybeth McNulty, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6741374/)
2. ['When I got the call I cried. It was wild': Irish actor Amybeth McNulty on her role in Stranger Things, The Irish Times, 27 November 2025](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2025/11/27/donegal-actor-amybeth-mcnulty-on-her-role-in-stranger-things-when-i-got-the-call-i-cried-it-was-wild/)
3. [Anne with an E awards and reception summary (retrieved document)](https://sudokucool.com/ckfinder/userfiles/files/sopalel-dirusizaje-jamaraf-tewokeno.pdf)
4. [How a Letterkenny teenager shone on the small screen as an 'accidental feminist', The Irish Times, 18 May 2017](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/how-a-letterkenny-teenager-shone-on-the-small-screen-as-an-accidental-feminist-1.3086495)
5. [Amybeth McNulty, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/amybeth-mcnulty/)
6. [How Netflix's Anne of Green Gables Adaptation Shows a Darker Side of the Sunny Heroine, TIME, 11 May 2017](https://time.com/4767986/netflix-anne-of-green-gables-adaptation-series/)
7. [Anne With an E: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/anne/s01)
8. [Anne with an E critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/anne-with-an-e/critic-reviews/)
9. [Lush, sad and perfect: at last, TV gives us an Anne of Green Gables for our times, The Guardian, 12 May 2017](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/12/anne-with-an-e-netflix-green-gables)
10. [Sunday Times report on the Save Anne with an E Times Square billboard, 26 January 2020](https://www.ihca.ie/_fileupload/Gen%2020%20-%20006%20Attachment%2011%20Sunday%20Times%2026%20Jan%202020.pdf)
11. [Are Stranger Things' Robin And Vickie Still Together?, CinemaBlend, January 2026](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/are-stranger-things-robin-and-vickie-still-together-duffers-weigh-my-thoughts)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Irish actors › Surnames G to M*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license