Anya Taylor-Joy is one of the most exciting actresses to watch right now. She burst onto the scene in 2015/2016 with The Witch and has steadily accrued a very sizable and respectable filmography. She's one of the greatest actresses working today, able to deftly balance small genre work and big blockbusters.
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Her latest performance is that of Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit. The role earned Taylor-Joy universal acclaim, with many critics and fans praising her line delivery, facial expressions, and body language. The miniseries stands proudly among her other works and puts her one step closer to complete Hollywood dominance.
She Spoke Spanish As A Child
Anya Taylor-Joy is reportedly fluent in Spanish, and that's because she's spent one-third of her life speaking the language.
Her mother is of Spanish descent, and despite being born in Florida, Taylor-Joy was moved to Buenos Aires when she was just a baby. She lived there until she was eight years old, and while there, she spoke the country's native Spanish. She only learned English after moving to London. Unfortunately, this proved a difficult transition...
She Refused To Speak English
While in London, Taylor-Joy refused to learn English. She was already proficient in Spanish, and learning a new language is incredibly difficult - even for the most intelligent of adults.
But her refusal stemmed not from a lack of intelligence, but a desire to return to Argentina. She erroneously believed that refusing to speak English would result in the family returning to their native Argentina. The ploy didn't work, and she later attended school in Chelsea.
Harry Potter Helped Her Learn English
Harry Potter is a wonderful series. Not just for its thrilling storytelling and warm moral messages, but in the case of Taylor-Joy, for its ability to teach people other languages! After Taylor-Joy realized that refusing to speak English wouldn't result in her family moving back to Buenos Aires, she decided to dig into theHarry Potterbooks.
As she told Seth Meyers, her uncle encouraged her to read the series, and it resulted in heruttering some Latin-based magical spells around the house. Meeting and working with Harry Melling, who played Dudley in the Harry Potter movies, must have been a dream...
Her Dad Was A Motorboat Racer
What child wouldn't love having a motorboat racer for a father? It's exciting, he would probably take you out on the water, and you have a very interesting answer when teachers ask "And what do your parents do for a living?"
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As cool as the occupation is, Taylor-Joy's father wasn't always a motorboat racer. Before changing professions, he worked as an international banker. Now that is some career change...
Her Unique Accent
Listening to Taylor-Joy's natural voice, it's very hard to place her. She clearly has a tinge of some type of British accent, but it's also very light and only comes out on certain words and pronunciations. This may be a result of her constant moving around as a child.
As stated before, she spoke Spanish and lived in Argentina until she was eight. After that, she lived in London. At 14, she moved to New York, introducing an East coast American accent into her speech. She proceeded to live in both New York and the United Kingdom, further resulting in a unique mixture of accents.
She Signed With A Modeling Agency
As a teenager, Anya Taylor-Joy was discovered by a modeling manager named Sarah Doukas, whofounded the agency Storm Management. Storm is based out of Chelsea (where Taylor-Joy attended school) andrepresents various prominent celebrities, including Emma Watson.
Doukas noticed Taylor-Joy walking outside Harrods, a gorgeous and massive department store located in the Knightsbridge area of London. Taylor-Joy was 16, andher signing with Storm eventually led to her now-prosperous acting career.
She's A Natural Blonde
Anya Taylor-Joy is a bit of a chameleon, she has gone through a ton of different hair colors. Many people may recognize her with jet black hair, as seen in movies like Split, Thoroughbreds, Glass, and Radioactive. In The Queen's Gambit, her hair is a very uniquelight and very unique red. In Barry, it's brown.
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But when not in costume, Taylor-Joy isa natural blonde. Her blonde hair can be seen in many of her movies, including The Witch, Emma, and The New Mutants.
SheAvoided Mirrors Due To Her Looks
One of Taylor-Joy's most prominent physical features is her eyes. And while she was never really bullied for them, one particularly mean Facebook comment had her avoiding mirrors. As Taylor-Joy told W Magazine, someone on Facebook once told her that her eyes made her look like a fish.
She was reportedly "really upset" about the comment (as she should be!), and it resulted in her avoiding mirrors. Well, she got the last laugh in that scenario, considering the fact that she's now a Hollywood megastar being interviewed by W Magazine...
Her Celebrity Crushes Are Eddie Redmayne & Saoirse Ronan
In that same interview, Taylor-Joy revealed that her celebrity crushes are both Eddie Redmayne and Saoirse Ronan (both excellent picks!). According to Taylor-Joy, she's attracted to Redmayne owing to him being "tall, skinny, ginger, [and] English." "All of the freckles" certainly help as well.
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Sheis also a huge fan of Saoirse Ronan, andshe finally met her after seeing a performance ofThe Crucibleon Broadway (which Ronan was starring in at the time).
Her First Audition Was ForMaleficent
According to Taylor-Joy, her first acting audition was for Maleficent. She had auditioned for the role of Teen Maleficent - the role that would eventually go to Ella Purnell ofMiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Childrenfame. She loved the prospect of being in a Disney film but was ultimately rejected.
No matter. Just eight months after its premiere, The Witch was released through Sundance and earned widespread acclaim.
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