50 Fun Facts About Anya Taylor-Joy

In which US city was Anya Taylor-Joy born, by what she calls a 'fluke', in 1996?

Her parents were on holiday there. The birthplace gave her American citizenship under US jus soli law.

In which city did Taylor-Joy spend her early childhood before moving to London?

She attended Northlands School there and is fluent in Spanish and English. She is the youngest of six siblings.

Taylor-Joy's father, a former banker, won two world championships in which sport?

Dennis Alan Taylor took the UIM titles in the 1980s. He is Argentine, of English and Scottish descent.

Taylor-Joy's mother, a psychologist, was born in which African country?

Jennifer Marina Joy's father was an English diplomat and her mother was from Barcelona.

How old was Taylor-Joy when her family moved to London?

They settled in the Victoria area. She found the move traumatic and felt 'too English to be Argentine, too Argentine to be English'.

What did the young Taylor-Joy initially refuse to do after arriving in London?

She hoped the family would move back to Argentina. At school she recalls being locked in lockers.

Taylor-Joy trained in ballet until what age?

She studied at Hill House in Knightsbridge and Queen's Gate School in South Kensington, acting in school productions.

At 17, Taylor-Joy was scouted as a model while walking her dog outside which London store?

Storm Management founder Sarah Doukas signed her on condition that acting stayed her first pursuit.

Which Downton Abbey actor heard Taylor-Joy reciting Seamus Heaney and introduced her to his agent?

She was on a Downton promotional shoot she had nearly skipped for her GCSEs, running lines of 'Digging' for a screen test.

Taylor-Joy's first acting job, as a 'Feeder Girl', was cut from which 2014 film?

Her scenes were dropped from the final cut, so her television debut in Endeavour was the first audiences saw of her.

Taylor-Joy's television debut came in an episode of which detective drama?

She played Philippa Collins-Davidson, then had a multi-episode arc in the fantasy series Atlantis in 2015.

Who wrote and directed The Witch (2015), Taylor-Joy's breakthrough film?

It was his feature debut too. She won the Gotham Breakthrough Actor award and Empire's Best Female Newcomer.

The Witch premiered in January 2015 at which film festival?

A24 gave it a wide release in February 2016; it took $40 million on a $4 million budget.

What is the name of the Puritan daughter Taylor-Joy plays in The Witch?

Set in 1630s New England, the family is banished from its settlement and turns on its eldest daughter as a suspected witch.

What is the name of the family's billy goat in The Witch?

The twins insist he talks to them. The family dog is called Fowler.

Taylor-Joy played the title role in Morgan (2016); who directed it?

The sci-fi horror flopped, though one critic praised her teeter-tottering between innocence and 'dead-eyed viciousness'.

The 2016 drama Barry, in which Taylor-Joy appeared, is about the student years of which future president?

It covers his first year at Columbia in 1981 and premiered at Toronto.

Taylor-Joy's likeness appeared on Skulduggery Pleasant book covers as which character?

Storm Management licensed it for the tenth-anniversary edition and four more books in the series.

What is the name of the abducted teenager Taylor-Joy plays opposite James McAvoy in Split?

M. Night Shyamalan's 'stealth sequel' to Unbreakable took $278.5 million on a $9 million budget.

Thoroughbreds (2017) was the last film of which actor, who died two weeks after it wrapped?

He played the drug dealer hired to kill Lily's stepfather; the film is dedicated to him and Taylor-Joy appeared in the documentary Love, Antosha.

In 2017 Taylor-Joy received the Trophée Chopard at which film festival?

The same year she was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

In the BBC miniseries The Miniaturist, Taylor-Joy played which character?

The 2017 period drama was adapted from Jessie Burton's novel.

Glass (2019), in which Taylor-Joy reprised her Split role, concluded which film trilogy?

She appeared with McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson and Sarah Paulson; it grossed $247 million.

Which character did Taylor-Joy voice in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance?

The 2019 Netflix puppet fantasy came the same year as two flops, Playmobil: The Movie and Radioactive.

What is the name of Taylor-Joy's character in Peaky Blinders?

She joined the BBC crime drama in 2019 and stayed through its final series in 2022.

Who made her directorial debut with Emma (2020), starring Taylor-Joy as Emma Woodhouse?

Eleanor Catton wrote the screenplay. Mark Kermode liked that her Emma was 'less likable than some of her screen predecessors'.

Which mutant sorceress did Taylor-Joy play in The New Mutants?

Illyana Rasputin, sister of the X-Men's Colossus. The film was meant for April 2018 and finally arrived in 2020.

The Queen's Gambit is based on a 1983 novel by which author?

Allan Scott owned the rights and created the series with writer-director Scott Frank.

What is the name of the orphaned chess prodigy Taylor-Joy plays in The Queen's Gambit?

Raised in a Kentucky orphanage where the custodian teaches her chess and the staff hand out tranquillisers.

How many episodes of The Queen's Gambit were released in October 2020?

Netflix had ordered six. Much of it was shot in and around Berlin, with a Schloss standing in for the orphanage.

Who wrote and directed The Queen's Gambit?

He co-created it with Allan Scott. It won eleven Primetime Emmys, including the first limited-series prize for a streaming show.

How many households did Netflix say watched The Queen's Gambit in its first 28 days?

It became the service's biggest scripted limited series and its top programme in 63 countries.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did The Queen's Gambit win?

Taylor-Joy herself was nominated for lead actress; she won the Golden Globe and SAG Award instead.

Which chess coach, who had suggested the novel's title decades earlier, consulted on the series?

He worked alongside Garry Kasparov, who later wrote Taylor-Joy's tribute for Time's 100 Next list.

Who directed Last Night in Soho (2021)?

Diana Rigg and Margaret Nolan made their final screen appearances in it; the film is dedicated to them.

Which Petula Clark song does Taylor-Joy perform in Last Night in Soho?

A music video of her version was released too. Joe Morgenstern praised the 'dazzling sense of purpose' in her performance.

What is the name of the 1960s would-be singer Taylor-Joy plays in Last Night in Soho?

Thomasin McKenzie's fashion student sees her in dreams of Swinging Sixties Soho.

The Northman, which reunited Taylor-Joy with her Witch director, is based on the legend of whom?

Saxo Grammaticus's tale of the exiled prince, Shakespeare's source for Hamlet. Alexander Skarsgård starred and produced.

Who directed The Menu (2022), in which Taylor-Joy dines at a deadly island restaurant?

Ralph Fiennes was the chef and Nicholas Hoult her date; she and Fiennes were both Golden Globe-nominated.

Which character does Taylor-Joy voice in The Super Mario Bros. Movie?

She returned for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in 2026.

Taylor-Joy's secret cameo in Dune: Part Two was as which character?

The casting was only revealed when she walked the red carpet at the London premiere.

Who directed Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga?

Taylor-Joy called it a lonely, hard shoot: 'everything that I thought was going to be easy was hard.'

Who plays Dementus, the warlord who kidnaps the young Furiosa?

Tom Burke played Praetorian Jack. The film was shot in Australia from June to October 2022.

What was the approximate production budget of Furiosa, which it barely recouped at the box office?

It grossed $174.4 million, a bomb despite strong reviews and a National Board of Review top-ten spot.

Who stars opposite Taylor-Joy as the other sniper in The Gorge (2025)?

Scott Derrickson's film, with Sigourney Weaver, was released on Apple TV+ on Valentine's Day 2025.

In which city did Taylor-Joy marry musician Malcolm McRae on 1 April 2022?

A private ceremony; a second celebration followed in September 2023 at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice.

Taylor-Joy was cast as a young Joni Mitchell in a biopic from which director?

Meryl Streep was cast as the older Mitchell.

Taylor-Joy starred alongside Chris Evans in which 2025 action comedy?

It followed The Gorge in a busy year.

Who directed Amsterdam (2022), the period comedy in which Taylor-Joy appeared?

It received mixed reviews and failed commercially.

Which former world chess champion wrote Taylor-Joy's tribute for Time's 100 Next list in 2021?

He had been a consultant on The Queen's Gambit, devising its critical game moments.