Anya Taylor-Joy is so good at playing the anti-heroine
As Beth in the Queen’s Gambit, the American actor exposes the intricacies between pain, addiction and excellence.
We suppose you could call her a hot mess. Beth, the protagonist of Netflix’s newest breakout miniseries the Queen’s Gambit, is addicted to prescription meds and, well, whatever else is handy. She’s wickedly smart but ultimately self-sabotaging; her sense of identity is dangerously tied to her profession, which is chess. For Beth, losing is not an option — the fact she moves in a male-dominated scene appears to up the pressure she puts on herself to win.
The Queen’s Gambit might be set in the 1960s, but it’s not difficult to gauge why the character of Beth is resonating with twenty and thirty-something women today. Curiously, it’s not the first time that Anya Taylor-Joy has played a character to this effect. At 24 years old, the American actor is making a name for herself as one of the canniest stars on screen.
Born in Miami, Florida, Taylor-Joy was scouted as a model before she began acting. It’s not difficult to see why. She carries herself in period costume like she would if she were wearing a Prada dress. With alabaster skin, copper-coloured hair and huge, dark orb-like eyes, it’s hard to imagine her being cast as the all-American beauty, sidekick or girlfriend (though there’s no doubt she’d do a great job if she were).
But she’s too sophisticated, maybe even a bit too weird, and casting agents seem to agree.
In 2015’s The Witch, she played a 17th century pilgrim, whose family is besieged by a supernatural force. In Thoroughbreds (2017), a vastly underrated dark comedy about teenage best friends who reunite after becoming estranged, Taylor-Joy plays Amanda, a social outcast with a sharp wit and attitude problems.
Then there’s the 2020 remake of Jane Austen’s Emma, her most high-profile role yet. You’d be forgiven for thinking the source material had been done to death. But the spiky spunk that Taylor-Joy brings to the titular character is enough to make you wonder whether she was born to play the devious Emma Woodhouse. Either that, or she was born to play devious young women. When you glance at her list of roles to date, it’s hard to argue with that.
But none of them are quite as shrewd as Beth. As one commenter lamented: “Beth. She’s neurotic but brilliant. She’s able to channel her demons into excellence and she’s not ashamed of the fact she’s a little messed up.
“We don’t see that duality much in female characters,” they added.
It’s true. Taylor-Joy’s ability to scratch at the painful surface that conceals the relationship between addiction and achievement, intelligence and insanity, made the Queen’s Gambit such an affective watch.
It’s no wonder the miniseries has remained the streaming platform’s most-watched program since it premiered on October 23. The only question is which anti-heroine Taylor-Joy brings to life next.