FROM CHESS PRODIGY ON SCREEN TO HOLLYWOOD’S MOST VERSATILE LEADING LADY
Anya Taylor-Joy
b. 1996 · Actress
Early Life
Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy was born on April 16, 1996, in Miami, Florida, to an Argentine-Scottish mother and an English-Argentine-Spanish father, and spent much of her early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before her family relocated to London when she was six.
Taylor-Joy trained in ballet as a child and was scouted by a modeling agent while walking down a London street at sixteen, which led to modeling work before she transitioned into acting, taking drama classes and pursuing small television roles.
Rise to Fame
Taylor-Joy’s breakthrough came with the horror film The Witch in 2015, which earned widespread critical acclaim and established her as a rising talent in independent film. She followed it with roles in Split (2016) and its sequel Glass (2019), further building her reputation in genre filmmaking.
She continued to diversify her range with roles in Emma. (2020) and The New Mutants (2020), demonstrating versatility across period drama and superhero franchise filmmaking.
Career Highlights
Taylor-Joy’s career reached a new level with The Queen’s Gambit (2020), a Netflix limited series in which she played chess prodigy Beth Harmon, earning her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination and becoming one of the most-watched limited series in streaming history at the time.
She went on to star as the title character in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), and continued headlining major films including The Menu (2022) and Regretting You (2025), establishing herself as one of the most in-demand leading actresses of her generation.
Personal Life
Taylor-Joy married musician Malcolm McRae in 2022 after a period of dating. She has spoken about growing up feeling like an outsider due to her unconventional appearance, which she has said shaped her early insecurity before it became central to her distinctive on-screen presence.
She has also discussed struggling with an eating disorder as a teenager and has been open about mental health more broadly, while generally keeping much of her personal life outside of these public reflections private.
Net Worth & Legacy
Anya Taylor-Joy’s net worth is estimated in the tens of millions of dollars, built through film and television roles, brand partnerships, and her status as one of the most sought-after actresses in the industry.
From a chance modeling discovery on a London street to an Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe-winning performance and headlining a major action franchise, Taylor-Joy has built a career defined by range and a distinctive screen presence, establishing herself as one of the defining actresses of her generation.