Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (born April 16, 1996) is an American, Argentine, and British actress.note
She was born in Miami, Florida while 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. She has said that Spanish is her first language. 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 Thomasin in The Witch, 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 portrayed a younger Furiosa in a Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, succeeding Charlize Theron, and would eventually join the Super Mario Bros. franchise as Princess Peach in the movies.
In 2022 she married the American musician and actor Malcolm McRae.
Selected filmography:
Film
- The Witch (2015) as Thomasin
- Morgan (2016) as Morgan
- Barry (2016) as Charlotte Baughman
- Split (2017) as Casey Cooke
- Glass (2019)
- Marrowbone (2017) as Allie
- Thoroughbreds (2018) as Lily Reynolds
- Playmobil: The Movie (2019) as Marla Brenner (voice)
- 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 of the Birch Forest
- Amsterdam (2022) as Libby Voze
- The Menu (2022) as Margot
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) as Princess Peach (voice)
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
- Dune as Alia Atreides
- Dune: Part Two (2024)
- Dune: Part Three (2026)
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) as Furiosa
- The Gorge (2025) as Drasa
- The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (2027) as Seren
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 Elizabeth "Beth" Harmon
- Lucky (2026) as Lucky
Associated Tropes
- Actor-Inspired Element: For the scene in The Witch, 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. She demanded a similar change of director Mark Mylod in The Menu: her character, upon learning her dinner date had intended her to die all along, was intended to be horrified; Anya insisted she attack him instead.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Her long, dark eyebrows are a distinct feature of hers, which remain even if her hair's dyed another color.
- The Cast Showoff: She gets to show off her singing and dancing talents in Last Night in Soho.
- Contralto of Strength: Her deep, sultry voice goes hand-in-hand with the deadlier, tougher characters she's played, particularly Action Girls Magik and Furiosa.
- 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 Nationality:
- Her character Illyana is Russian in The New Mutants.
- She plays the Kievan Rus Slavic woman Olga in The Northman.
- The Australian Furiosa in the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
- Drasa in The Gorge is Lithuanian.
- Production Posse: She's starred in two films directed by Robert Eggers, The Witch and The Northman. She was also initially cast as the lead in a third of Eggers' projects, Nosferatu, but had to drop out.
- Smoking Is Cool: Practically every character she plays in live action is a smoker, and nearly all fit into either this or Smoking Is Glamorous.
- Star-Making Role: The Witch and Split brought her a lot of positive attention, but it was the Sleeper Hit The Queen's Gambit that really made her popularity explode.
- Statuesque Stunner: She stands 5'8", works as a model as well as an actress, and has shown off her ethereal beauty in several of her roles, notably The Witch and The Northman.
- Vocal Dissonance: Her large doe eyes and ethereal beauty noticeably clash with her deep, husky voice.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Her large, wide-set brown eyes are one of her most distinct and attractive features. Unfortunately, as discussed in this interview
, she's spoken about how it's been a source of bullying in the past. - 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.
- She was originally going to appear in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, being replaced by Lily-Rose Depp.
