Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (born April 16, 1996) is an American-Argentine-British actress.note
She was born in Miami, Florida when her parents were on holiday there. On her father's side, she has Scottish and Argentine heritage. From her mother, English and Spanish. She grew up living in Buenos Aires until age six when her family moved to London. Because of this, she speaks Spanish fluently along with English. According to her, it was difficult to fit in in both places, and she was often bullied.
She is known for her frequent roles in horror films and thrillers; she starred as the protagonist in The VVitch, the title role in Morgan, and Casey Cooke in M. Night Shyamalan's Split and Glass, though her career has very much diversified since.
She garnered a great deal of critical acclaim in 2020 for her role as chess prodigy Beth Harmon in the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit, winning a Golden Globe Award for it in 2021. She's also been cast as a younger Furiosa in a Mad Max: Fury Road prequel project.
Selected filmography:
Film
- The VVitch (2015) as Thomasin
- Morgan (2016) as Morgan
- Barry (2016) as Charlotte Baughman
- Split (2017) as Casey Cooke
- Marrowbone (2017) as Allie
- Thoroughbreds (2018) as Lily Reynolds
- Playmobil: The Movie (2019) as Marla Brenner (voice)
- Glass (2019) as Casey Cooke
- Emma (2020) as Emma Woodhouse
- Radioactive (2020) as Irene Curie
- The New Mutants (2020) as Illyana Rasputin / Magik
- Here Are the Young Men (2020) as Jen
- Last Night in Soho (2021) as Sandie
- The Northman (2022) as Olga
- Amsterdam (2022) as Libby Voze
- The Menu (2022) as Margot
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) as Princess Peach (voice)
- Furiosa (2024) as young Furiosa
Television
- Atlantis (2013 - 2015) as Cassandra the Oracle
- Endeavour (2014) as Philippa Collins-Davidson
- Viking Quest (2014) as Mani
- The Miniaturist (2017) as Petronella "Nella" Brandt
- Peaky Blinders (2019, 2022) as Gina Gray
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019) as Brea (voice)
- The Queen's Gambit (2020) as Beth Harmon
Associated Tropes
- Actor-Inspired Element: For the scene in The VVitch, when Robert is dragging Thomasin through the house after Caleb's death, the script called for her to be hysterical and crying. Anya however felt that Thomasin would be angry, and convinced Robert Eggers to play the scene that way.
- The Cast Showoff: She gets to show off her singing and dancing talents in Last Night in Soho.
- Contralto Of Danger: Her sultry voice goes hand-in-hand with the deadlier, sneakier characters she's played.
- Dawson Casting: She was nineteen playing Thomasin in The VVitch, whose age isn't stated, but is implied to be a teenager. But as the character's growing sexuality is a plot point, and a scene required her to strip naked, casting an older actress was obviously necessary.
- Dye Hard: She's a natural blonde, but had her hair dark earlier in her career and even went red-haired for her roles in The Queen's Gambit and The Menu.
- Fake Brit: Well, she has British heritage on her father's side, but she often puts on an English accent for roles such as The VVitch, Emma, and Last Night in Soho.
- Fake Nationality: She plays the Slavic Olga in The Northman.
- Star-Making Role: The VVitch and Split brought her a lot of positive attention, but it was the Sleeper Hit The Queen's Gambit that really made her famous.
- What Could Have Been: Edgar Wright had her in mind to play Eloise in Last Night in Soho, but then realized that she had frequently played Final Girls already, so he cast her as Sandie to do something different.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Much like Christian Bale, her regular speaking voice is an odd mishmash of American and British, with the occasional South American flourish. This is averted when Anya speaks Spanish, where her Argentine accent is very clear.
