Anya Taylor-Joy
☼ Born on 16 December 1996, in Miami, Florida, USA
Biography
Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (born April 16, 1996) is a British-American actress. She is best known for her roles as Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit (2020), Thomasin in the period horror film The Witch (2015), as Casey Cooke in the horror-thriller Split (2016), and as Lily in the black comedy thriller Thoroughbreds (2017). She has been the recipient of the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
Anya was born in Miami, the youngest of six children. Her father is Scottish who was born in South America, and her mother is Spanish-English who was born in Zambia in Africa, to an English diplomat father and a Spanish mother from Barcelona. Anya lived her childhood between Argentina and England. Her father was a banker and a powerboat racer, and her mother is a psychologist. Anya was raised in Argentina until the age of six, then moved to London, where the family lived in Victoria. She attended Northlands School in Buenos Aires, then preparatory school Hill House and Queen's Gate School in London, and is also a former ballet dancer. Anya's dream of becoming an actress came when she was very young and it finally became possible when she was offered a modeling job. It wasn't long until Taylor-Joy received her first part in the Show Business. When she was fourteen, she used her savings to move to New York, and at 16, she left school to pursue acting.
Anya's outstanding performance as Thomasin in Robert Eggers' period horror film T
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he Witch (2015), and the positive reviews it got at the Sundance festival revealed her incredible potential to the world; it was widely released and viewed in 2016. She then starred as the title character in the thriller Morgan (2016), directed Luke Scott and also starring Kate Mara. She also starred in Vikram Gandhi's film Barry, which focused on a young Barack Obama in 1981 New York City. Taylor-Joy played one of Obama's close friends. In 2017, she headlined M. Night Shyamalan's horror-thriller film Split (2016), playing Casey Cooke, a girl abducted by a mysterious man with split personalities. In 2019, she reprised her role as Casey in the film Glass. Anya was also the lead actress in the music video for Skrillex's remix of GTA's song Red Lips. She was nominated for the 2017 BAFTA Rising Star Award.
Taylor-Joy is attached to star in Nosferatu, a remake of the film of the same name, to be directed by Eggers in her third collaboration with him. She will also star in The Sea Change.
In the role of actor
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (24/05/2024)
The backstory of the wasteland Imperator is told in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. As a child, Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is kidnapped from the Green Place of Many Mothers in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Furiosa is taken to the camp of the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and her mother Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser). Furiosa is […]
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (04/04/2023)
The Nintendo stars hit the big screen in a new animated adventure in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are two Italian brothers running a plumbing business in Brooklyn. While trying to fix a broken water main, the Mario Bros. gets sucked into an old pipe in the sewers. […]
The Menu (17/11/2022)
A fine dining experience turns sinister in The Menu. Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a young woman who joins her new boyfriend Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) on a trip to a coastal island in the Pacific Northwest to dine at the exclusive restaurant Hawthorne, run by esteemed Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The restaurant only allows […]
The Northman (18/04/2022)
A Viking prince seeks revenge against his murderous uncle in The Northman. In AD 895, Viking King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) returns home from battle to his Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) and young son Amleth. Shortly after participating in a coming-of-age ceremony for Amleth conducted by Heimir the Fool (Willem Dafoe), Aurvandil is betrayed and […]
Last Night in Soho (28/10/2021)
A fashion student is haunted by memories of an aspiring singer from the 1960s in Last Night in Soho. Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is a 1960s-obsessed young woman from the English countryside, who is accepted into the London College of Fashion. Unhappy with the living situation at her dorm, Eloise decides to rent a room in London’s […]
Last Night in Soho – TIFF21 (11/09/2021)
A fashion student is haunted by memories of an aspiring singer from the 1960s in Last Night in Soho. Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is a 1960s-obsessed young woman from the English countryside, who is accepted into the London College of Fashion. Unhappy with the living situation at her dorm, Eloise decides to rent a room in London’s […]
The New Mutants (11/09/2020)
Five young mutants encounter their greatest fears in an isolated hospital in The New Mutants. Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt) is a 16-year old Cheyenne woman, who wakes up in a hospital for new mutants run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga). Danielle joins Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton), […]
Glass (17/01/2019)
M. Night Shyamalan returns to the world of Unbreakable two decades later in Glass. For the past 19 years, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) has been working as a vigilante superhero the media has nicknamed “The Overseer.” With the help of his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), David has been tracking down Kevin Wendell Crumb (James […]
Thoroughbreds (09/03/2018)
Two teenage girls concoct a murderous plan in Thoroughbreds. Amanda (Olivia Cooke) is a sociopathic teenager from an upper class family, whose mother has hired Amanda’s old friend Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) to hang out with her. While Amanda does have a feeling in the world, Lily holds an immense hatred towards her stepfather Mark (Paul […]
Split (22/01/2017)
Three girls are kidnapped by a man with dissociative identity disorder in Split. As they are being driven home from a party, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), Claire (Haley Lu Richardson), and Marcia (Jessica Sula) are kidnapped by Kevin (James McAvoy) and locked in a basement in an unknown location. The girls quickly realize that Kevin has […]
The Witch (19/02/2016)
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by suspected witchcraft in The Witch. William (Ralph Ineson) and Katherine (Kate Dickie) live a devout Christian life with their five children on an isolated farm surrounded by woods. Beginning with the sudden disappearance of their newborn son, the family begins to experience an unexplained string of […]