Anya Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy born 16 April 1996 is an American-born Argentine-British actress. She made her debut in the fantasy series Atlantis (2015), before rising to prominence with her performance as Thomasin in the period horror film The Witch (2015). The latter role earned her several accolades, including an Empire Award and a nomination for a Saturn Award. She gained further attention for her performances as Casey Cooke in the psychological horror films Split (2016) and Glass (2019), and Lily Reynolds in the black comedy Thoroughbreds (2017). In 2017, she received the Cannes Film Festival’s Trophée Chopard and a nomination for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
Taylor-Joy had starring roles in the BBC One drama miniseries The Miniaturist (2017), the BBC One crime drama series Peaky Blinders (2019), and the Netflix fantasy drama series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019). She earned critical acclaim for her performances as Emma Woodhouse in the Jane Austen adaptation Emma. (2020) and for playing Beth Harmon in the Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit (2020). In 2021, she received Golden Globe and Satellite Award nominations for both performances.
Early life
Anya Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy was born on 16 April 1996 in Miami, Florida, the youngest of six children. Her mother, Jennifer Marina Joy, is a psychologist who was born and raised in Zambia and is of English and Spanish descent. Her father, Dennis Alan Taylor, is an Argentine of Scottish heritage. He was an international banker who changed careers to become a professional racer in offshore powerboat racing, where he won two Union Internationale Motonautique world championships. Taylor was also the director of a private jet hire company. Her parents are both conservationists.
The family moved to Buenos Aires when Taylor-Joy was an infant, and she spoke mostly Spanish while growing up. Her father was awarded an MBE in the 1982 New Year Honours (for services to the British community in Buenos Aires) and an OBE in 1998 (for services to British trade with Argentina). She lived in Buenos Aires until age six, when the family moved to the Victoria area of London. Taylor-Joy was traumatised by the move and refused to speak English for two years, believing this would force her parents to move the family back to Argentina. She attended the preparatory school Hill House in Chelsea and Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington, with a stint at Northlands School in Argentina in between. She trained in ballet.
Taylor-Joy holds triple British, American, and Argentine citizenship.
Career
2014–2016: Early work and breakthrough
Taylor-Joy and Jarin Blaschke promoting The Witch (2015) at Sundance
At age fourteen, Taylor-Joy dropped out of school and moved from London to New York City, citing bullying from her peers and a desire to pursue acting. She later split her time between the United States and England. At age sixteen, she was scouted as a model while walking outside of a Harrods department store. It was through her modeling work that she met and signed with an acting agent.
Taylor-Joy had her first acting role in the 2014 horror comedy film Vampire Academy. However, her scene was removed from the final cut. She subsequently appeared in a 2014 episode of the detective drama series Endeavour and in multiple episodes of the 2015 fantasy-adventure drama series Atlantis. She rose to prominence with her lead role as Thomasin in Robert Eggers’ period horror film The Witch. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and had a wide theatrical release in 2016. She turned down a role in a Disney Channel series in order to complete the film. The film and Taylor-Joy’s performance received critical acclaim, and she won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor, the Empire Award for Best Female Newcomer, and the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actress. She also earned a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.
In 2016, Taylor-Joy starred in the science fiction horror film Morgan, directed by Luke Scott. The film was released in September 2016, receiving mixed to negative reviews and bombing at the box office. That same year, she played Charlotte Baughman, Barack Obama’s girlfriend, in Vikram Gandhi’s drama film Barry, which focused on a young Obama during his first year at Columbia University in 1981. Taylor-Joy’s likeness was used for the character Valkyrie Cain on the tenth anniversary cover of Skulduggery Pleasant, the first book in the series of the same name. She also appeared in the music video for Skrillex’s remix of GTA’s song Red Lips.
2017–present: Rise to prominence and critical acclaim
Taylor-Joy alongside actress Olivia Cooke promoting Thoroughbreds in 2017
In 2017, Taylor-Joy was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. She was also awarded the prestigious Trophée Chopard at the Cannes Film Festival, which is given by a jury of professionals to young actors in order to recognise their accomplishments.
That same year, she gained further recognition for her starring role in M. Night Shyamalan’s horror thriller film Split. She played Casey Cooke, a teenage girl abducted by a mysterious man with multiple personalities (played by James McAvoy). Her performance earned her praise and she received a BloodGuts UK Horror Award nomination for it. That same year, she starred as Allie in the horror mystery film Marrowbone. Taylor-Joy later starred in the BBC One period drama miniseries The Miniaturist, which premiered in December 2017 to positive reviews.
In 2018, she portrayed Lily in the dark comedy thriller film Thoroughbreds, which she starred in alongside Olivia Cooke.
In 2019, Taylor-Joy reprised her role as Casey Cooke in the psychological superhero film Glass, the final instalment in the Unbreakable film series. She later appeared in the documentary film Love, Antosha, which focused on her late co-star Anton Yelchin, and the animated musical adventure film Playmobil: The Movie. She also portrayed Irene Curie in the biographical drama film Radioactive. That same year, she had starring roles in the acclaimed BBC One period crime drama series Peaky Blinders and the Netflix fantasy drama series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
In 2020, Taylor-Joy starred as Emma Woodhouse in comedy-drama film Emma., a film adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1815 novel of the same name. The film was released in February 2020 to favourable critical reception and box office success. She then starred in the drama film Here Are the Young Men, directed by Eoin Macken, and as Illyana Rasputin/Magik, a Russian mutant and sorceress, in the superhero horror film The New Mutants. The film was originally intended for release in April 2018 but experienced several delays; it was released in August 2020. Taylor-Joy headlined the Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, playing Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy struggling with drug and alcohol addiction as she strives to become the world’s greatest chess player. Both the series and her performance received widespread critical acclaim. Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly called her performance “darkly fascinating” and took note of how she “excels in the quiet moments, her eyelids narrowing as she decimates an opponent, her whole body physicalizing angry desperation when the game turns against her.” Similarly, Caroline Framke of Variety found her performance to be “so magnetic that when she stares down the camera lens, her flinty glare threatens to cut right through it.” In 2021, her performances in both Emma. and The Queen’s Gambit received nominations from the Golden Globes and the Satellite Awards, and additionally a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for the latter. In 2021, Time magazine included Taylor-Joy on its 100 Next list of “emerging leaders who are shaping the future”, with a tribute written by former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov.
Upcoming projects
Taylor-Joy will next star in Edgar Wright’s psychological horror film Last Night in Soho, scheduled for release in October 2021. She will also re-team with filmmaker Robert Eggers for a starring role in the historical revenge film The Northman. The latter film has been described as “a Viking revenge saga set in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century.”
In October 2020, it was announced that Taylor-Joy had been cast as the titular character in the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa. In December 2020, Scott Frank, the writer-director of The Queen’s Gambit, announced that he hoped to film an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Laughter in the Dark with Taylor-Joy. In January 2021, she was cast in David O. Russell’s yet-untitled film, which will also star Robert De Niro, Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and Mike Myers.
Since 2017, Taylor-Joy has been attached to star in Robert Eggers’ remake of F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. That same year, she was also cast in the drama film The Sea Change.