Anya Taylor-Joy, who shot to fame with the 2020 hit series The Queen’s Gambit, actually made her feature film debut in 2015 with the horror movie The Witch. Born to an English and Scottish father and an Anglo-Argentine mother, her full name is Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy – a fact that even her now-husband, Malcolm McRae, was unaware of for some time.
As a child, Anya moved between Buenos Aires and London before eventually settling in Hollywood, where she has since become a major star. The youngest of six siblings born to Jennifer Marina Joy-Marancho and Dennis Taylor, Anya decided at 16 to leave school and pursue acting.
In a 2020 interview with NME, she revealed that her parents, already having raised five children, were “tired” by the time she came along and supported her decision to follow her dreams. Anya’s father had six children in total – two with her mother Jennifer, and four with his first wife.
Born in Miami while her parents were on holiday there, Anya lived in Argentina until she was six years old, when the family relocated to London due to political unrest in Argentina.
The Mad Max: Furiosa star endured bullying over her appearance as a child, but found strength in the support of her mother. Speaking openly on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2022, Anya revealed: “I was very, very lucky with my parents because when I was bullied for my looks, my mom always said, ‘You look at the inside of somebody. You don’t look at class, you don’t look at anything like that. You don’t look at what they do for a job. It’s just: ‘Do you like that person’s heart?'”, reports the Mirror.
Anya’s journey to fame is nothing short of remarkable. During a conversation with CRASH magazine in 2021, the Peaky Blinders actress recounted: “Well I started modelling when I was sixteen years old. I was walking my dog in heels one day.”
“It was my first time ever wearing heels, and I was basically scouted in the street. On my third shoot, I met an actor who put me in touch with his agent and it all started from there.”
Speaking multiple languages fluently, including Spanish, Anya has also become adept at managing minimal sleep. In an interview with Vogue, she opened up about her long-standing challenge with insomnia which began at age seven: “I had this really strange notion of sleep – it was like being dead but not dead – so I trained myself not to sleep for very long… Three, four hours and I’m sweet. It helps with the schedule.”
The 28-year-old actress secretly married her rockstar boyfriend of over two years, Malcolm McRae, in a private courthouse wedding in New Orleans, as reported by Page Six in July 2022. The couple later celebrated their union with a grand Venetian wedding in 2023, attended by 150 guests. Anya looked stunning in a custom-made Dior gown.
Speaking to British Vogue in 2022, Anya opened up about her relationship with Malcolm, saying: “I said to my partner the other day that he was my hobby. I’ve finally found someone who will happily sit in silence with me reading. We’re basically 80 years old and 7 at the same time, and it works really well.”
On the work front, her latest film, The Gorge, co-starring Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller, premiered on Apple TV+ on February 14.
The Gorge is now streaming on Apple TV+