Anya Taylor-Joy

Actor, Soundtrack

Birthdate: April 16, 1996 (30 Years Old)

Birthplace: Miami, Florida, USA

With her fluid cross-Atlantic voice, cutting intelligence, and large eyes, Anya Taylor-Joy (birthname: Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy) is an actor who seems to own the screen and catch the viewer’s attention effortlessly. Her career has been superbly managed, with her ability to collaborate with strong, top-flight filmmakers (Robert Eggers, George Miller, Autumn de Wilde, Scott Frank, David O. Russell, M. Night Shyamalan, and Edgar Wright) matched by a gallery of intensely memorable performances, from her startling debut in Eggers’s first feature, Witches (2015) to her widely heralded lead roles in de Wilde’s Emma and Frank’s limited series, The Queen’s Gambit (2020).

Anya Taylor-Joy’s performances stand apart from most of her peers because she cleverly layers her roles with seemingly contradictory moods: Her characters appear to be crafty and always thinking a few moves ahead of her opposition, yet simultaneously exude a moving vulnerability. The best actors convey drama and conflict from the inside out, and no one in her age group does this better than Taylor Joy.

Shyamalan cast her in the second and then third entries in his Unbreakable trilogy- Split (2016), opposite James McEvoy, and Glass (2019), with McAvoy and Samuel L. Jackson, while in between these projects delivered striking performances in the 2017 indie movies Thoroughbreds and Marrowbone. But in 2020, the pair of Emma and The Queen’s Gambit catapulted Anya Taylor-Joy to the upper echelon of young actors. She followed these with a bravura performance in Wright’s Last Night in Soho.

Anya Taylor-Joy was cast by filmmaker Robert Eggers for his historical drama, The Northman (2022), starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe, released in the US by Focus Features and in the rest of the world by Universal Pictures to a global gross of $70 million, matching costs. Taylor-Joy co-starred in the Mark Mylod-directed black comedy, The Menu (2022), with Ralph Fiennes, John Leguizamo, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTier, and Judith Light, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival before a successful Searchlight Pictures release with $80 million global box office returns and a Golden Globe best actress nomination for Taylor-Joy.

Taylor-Joy joined director/writer/producer David O. Russell for the loopy mystery-comedy, Amsterdam (2022), co-starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, and Rami Malek, but was a commercial failure for 20^th Century Studios and Regency Enterprises with a $31 million gross against $80 million costs.

Taylor-Joy took on a voice role as Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), co-directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and co-starring Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen, and grossing a fantastic $1.36 billion in global box office (with $100 million expenses) for Universal Pictures.

Anya Taylor-Joy starred in filmmaker George Miller’s highly anticipated Mad Max spinoff epic, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), co-starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke, and premiering at the Cannes film festival before a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Taylor-Joy then co-starred in and produced the action-adventure, Sacrifice (date to be announced), directed, produced, and co-written by Romain Gavras and co-starring Chris Evans, Brendan Fraser, and Salma Hayek. Taylor-Joy then reunited with her The Queen’s Gambit director-writer, Scott Frank, for a feature adaptation and US/German co-production of Vladimir Nabokov’s Laughter in the Dark (date to be announced).

Read Full Bio

gallery
Personal Life
Movies
Facts
FAQs

Anya Taylor-Joy Photos and Videos

Personal life

Anya Taylor-Joy’s unusual international upbringing has proven to be a major asset in her career but was a struggle for her growing up. Though born in Miami to a Scottish banker father and an Argentine-British psychologist mother, she was raised until age six in Buenos Aires with Spanish as her first language. When her family moved to London, the transition was extremely difficult for her and included countless episodes of being bullied in school. As a child, Taylor-Joy desired to be an actor, and moved to New York as a 14-year-old, but was discovered three years later by a modeling scout in London. She studied ballet, possesses a strong singing voice, and can play the ukulele. The subject of great frustration on tabloid sites, Taylor-Joy maintains a very private life, occasionally photographed with men but with no publicly known boyfriend. She has never married.

Known For

The Queen's Gambit

Beth Harmon (2020)

The Witch

Thomasin (2015)

The New Mutants

Illyana Rasputin (2020)

Morgan

Morgan (2016)

Awards

Select Honors: BAFTA Rising Star Award (2017); Chopard Trophy, Cannes Film Festival (2017); Two Golden Globe nominations, including Best Actress award for The Queen’s Gambit (2020).

Critics Choice Award

Critics Choice Award

Critics Choice Awards

Golden Globe

Golden Globe

Golden Globes, USA

Golden Globe

Golden Globe

Golden Globes, USA

Anya Taylor-Joy Movies

Actor

Collapse

Previous (18)

2026 |
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
2026
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the familiar Mushroom Kingdom.
asPrincess Peach
2026 |
Dune: Part Three
Dune: Part Three
2026
Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Emperor Paul Atreides faces the fallout from his ascent to power as political plots and a galaxy-wide holy war endanger the future only he can see.
asAlia Atreides
2024 |
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
2024
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and teamup with Mad Max.
More Info
2023 |
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
2023
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
A plumber named Mario travels through an underground labyrinth with his brother Luigi, trying to save a captured princess.
More Info
asPrincess Peach
2022 |
Amsterdam
Amsterdam
2022
Comedy, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
In the 1930s, three friends witness a murder, are framed for it, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history.
asLibby Voze
2022 |
The Northman
The Northman
2022
Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History, Thriller
A young Viking prince is on a quest to avenge his father's murder.
asOlga of the Birch Forest
2022 |
The Menu
The Menu
2022
Comedy, Horror, Thriller
A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
asMargot
2021 |
Last Night in Soho
Last Night in Soho
2021
Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Aspiring fashion designer Eloise is mysteriously able to return to 1960s London, where she encounters dazzling wannabe singer Sandie. But the glamour is not as it seems, and the dreams of the past crack and splinter into something darker.
More Info
asSandie
2020 |
The New Mutants
The New Mutants
2020
Action, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.
More Info
asIllyana Rasputin
2020 |
Emma.
Emma.
2020
Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1800s England, a well meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends.
More Info
asEmma Woodhouse
2019 |
Playmobil: The Movie
Playmobil: The Movie
2019
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
When her younger brother Charlie unexpectedly disappears into the magical, animated universe of PLAYMOBIL®, unprepared Marla must go on a quest of a lifetime to bring him home, setting off on a fantastic journey across stunning new worlds.
More Info
asMarla Brenner
2019 |
Glass
Glass
2019
Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.
More Info
asCasey Cooke
2018 |
Thoroughbreds
Thoroughbreds
2018
Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems-no matter what the cost.
More Info
asLily
2018 |
Marrowbone
Marrowbone
2018
Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young man and his three younger siblings, who have kept secret the death of their beloved mother in order to remain together, are plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live.
More Info
asAllie
2017 |
Split
Split
2017
Horror, Thriller
Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.
More Info
asCasey Cooke
2016 |
Morgan
Morgan
2016
Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A corporate risk-management consultant must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being.
More Info
asMorgan
2016 |
The Witch
The Witch
2016
Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An isolated Puritan family in 1630s New England comes unraveled by the forces of witchcraft and possession.
More Info
asThomasin
-- |
as Princess Peach

Facts About Anya Taylor-Joy

What’s in a name?: Her complete name is Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy. Citizen of the World: Although born in Miami, Taylor-Joy was raised in Buenos Aires and London, and holds citizenship in the U.S., U.K., and Argentina. Her father, Dennis Alan Taylor, is Argentinian of Scottish and British descent, and her Zambian-born mother is the child of a British father and Spanish mother. She was raised in Buenos Aires and in Spanish and initially resisted learning English when her family relocated to London. Discovery: Taylor-Joy was discovered by a modeling agent outside of Harrod’s department store. Quotable quote: “I was too English to be Argentine, too Argentine to be English, too American to be anything.” Music Video Moonlighting: Taylor-Joy has appeared in music videos featuring bands GTA and Hozier, as well as a cover performance of the Petula Clark pop song, ‘Downtown,’ timed with the release of Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho. Luxury brand appeal: Taylor-Joy has been the face of luxury brands Viktor & Rold, Tiffany & Co., and Dior. Endorsement: Chess master Garry Kasparov wrote the tribute for Taylor-Joy upon her selection by Time Magazine to its 2021 “100 Next” list of future leaders.