Anya Taylor-Joy

Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy is an American-born British-Argentine actress born on April 16, 1996, in Miami, Florida. Born while her parents were vacationing in the United States, she holds American citizenship alongside her British and Argentine background. She is widely known for her starring roles across film and television, including the period horror film The Witch, the psychological thriller Split, and her critically acclaimed performance as chess prodigy Beth Harmon in the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit.

Taylor-Joy was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and later moved to London at age six. Her father, Dennis Alan Taylor, is a former banker and powerboat racer of English and Scottish descent, and her mother, Jennifer Marina Joy, is a psychologist born in Zambia to an English diplomat and a Spanish mother. The youngest of six siblings, Taylor-Joy attended Northlands School in Argentina, followed by Hill House International Junior School and Queen's Gate School in London. She initially trained in ballet until age 15. At age 17, she was scouted as a model by Storm Management founder Sarah Doukas, agreeing to sign on the condition that acting remain her primary pursuit. Actor Allen Leech later introduced her to his agent after meeting her during a modeling shoot.

She made her screen debut in television roles, appearing in episodes of Endeavour and Atlantis. Her breakthrough arrived with her lead performance in Robert Eggers' period horror film The Witch (2015), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and earned her the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor. Following this success, she starred as the title character in the science fiction horror film Morgan (2016) and appeared in the biographical film Barry (2016). That same year, she played Casey Cooke in M. Night Shyamalan's commercial hit Split and starred in the black comedy Thoroughbreds.

Taylor-Joy continued her career momentum with roles in the horror mystery Marrowbone (2017) and the BBC One miniseries The Miniaturist (2017). She received the Trophée Chopard at the Cannes Film Festival and earned a nomination for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. She reprised her role as Casey Cooke in Glass (2019), the final installment of the Unbreakable trilogy. In 2019, she also provided voice work for the series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and joined the cast of the BBC crime drama series Peaky Blinders as Gina Gray.

In 2020, Taylor-Joy starred as Emma Woodhouse in the period drama Emma, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination. Later that year, she achieved global prominence for her portrayal of Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit. Her performance earned wide critical acclaim along with a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. She also appeared as Illyana Rasputin in the superhero horror film The New Mutants and starred in the drama Here Are the Young Men.

Her subsequent projects include Edgar Wright's psychological horror film Last Night in Soho (2021), Robert Eggers' historical epic The Northman (2022), and Mark Mylod's black comedy thriller The Menu (2022), the latter earning her another Golden Globe nomination. She voiced Princess Peach in the animated hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and portrayed the titular character in George Miller's action film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024). Her recent and upcoming credits include Scott Derrickson's action film The Gorge, the action comedy Sacrifice, and a planned role portraying a young Joni Mitchell in a biographical film.

In her personal life, Taylor-Joy began dating musician Malcolm McRae in 2021. The couple married in a private ceremony in New Orleans in April 2022 and held a second ceremony in Venice, Italy, in September 2023. Beyond acting, she has served as a brand ambassador for major companies, including Dior, Tiffany & Co., Viktor & Rolf, and Jaeger-LeCoultre.