The Queen’s Gambit Star’s Meteoric Rise
Anya Taylor-Joy:
By Kirsten Howard
Six years ago, Anya Taylor-Joy was ‘Anya Taylor-Who?’ Now, her stratospheric rise feels unstoppable.
British-Argentine actress Anya Taylor-Joy is on track to become one of the biggest stars around.
The 24-year-old got her acting start on the small screen just six years ago in a couple of small roles, before landing a multi-episode arc in the BBC’s popular fantasy series, Atlantis.
In the same year, Taylor-Joy nabbed the lead in Robert Eggers’ feature directorial debut, The Witch.
The actress garnered lots of attention for her performance in the acclaimed horror movie, and scooped several prominent awards.
It turns out Taylor-Joy had made the right choice to turn down a Disney Channel series to take on The Witch instead.
In 2017, she opted to return to the horror genre, and managed to anchor a wild performance from co-star James McAvoy in M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable sequel, Split.
Industry circles started to talk about Anya Taylor-Joy as ‘the next big thing’, and she was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
She was also fast becoming a breakout ‘scream queen’ thanks to other genre roles in Marrowbone, Thoroughbreds and The New Mutants.
But she paired these projects with more serious fare, like period drama The Miniaturist, and a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma.
This year, Taylor-Joy became a household name when she led the smash hit Netflix miniseries, The Queen's Gambit.
In The Queen’s Gambit, Taylor-Joy stars as Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy struggling with addiction who’s on a mission to become the world's greatest chess player.
The show was revealed to be the most-watched Netflix original miniseries ever by the streaming service.
Next, we’ll see Taylor-Joy in Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright's mysterious psychological horror film, Last Night in Soho.
She’ll follow that up with her big budget action debut in the Mad Max: Fury Road spin-off movie, Furiosa, where she’ll play a younger version of Charlize Theron’s iconic character.
It seems inevitable that the in-demand actress will join the A-list over the next few years.