Anya Taylor-Joy Reflects on Childhood Nomadism, Actress’s Journey
Anya Taylor-Joy has shared how her peripatetic childhood, marked by frequent moves, fostered a sense of alienation but ultimately prepared her for a career in acting. The acclaimed actress, 30, recently featured in a striking photoshoot for L’Officiel magazine, showcasing a variety of distinctive styles.
Reflecting on her formative years, Taylor-Joy described the experience of relocating internationally with her family from a young age as isolating. “It was difficult for little me,” she confessed. However, she now views these experiences through a positive lens, recognizing how they equipped her for the transient nature of her profession.
“But now I look at it with so much love, because I just think it perfectly set me up to live this kind of transient life,” she stated. Taylor-Joy was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before moving to the United Kingdom at the age of six. She has previously described this transition as “traumatic” and initially resisted learning English, hoping for a return to Argentina.
Embracing a Nomadic Identity
Currently dividing her time between London and Los Angeles, Taylor-Joy embraces her inherently nomadic disposition. “I’ve always been nomadic by nature,” she explained. “Now I’ve just fully embraced it as part of who I am. If I have a couple of days off, I’m always like, Ooh, what’s within driving distance? If it’s six hours or less, I’m like, Let’s go. Why not?”
In a 2021 interview with InStyle magazine, Taylor-Joy elaborated on her lifelong feeling of not fully belonging. “I grew up feeling like people didn’t like or trust me because they couldn’t put me in a box,” she recalled. “I was always the Argentine girl in England. I was the English girl in America. I was the weird blend of both in Argentina, so I never really fully belonged.”
The Actress’s Craft and Personal Growth
Taylor-Joy finds fulfillment in embodying diverse characters, seeing it as an extension of her personal journey. “To go from being somebody like Emma to Sandy to Beth [referencing characters from “The Queen’s Gambit”], I thrive off that,” she commented. “It is so much fun to be able to pick apart a different person and go, ‘Oh, how am I going to make myself either bigger or smaller to fit into their shoes?'”
She further explained the therapeutic aspect of her work: “You end up working out some of your own s**t that you didn’t even realize that you needed to work out because you’re clearly connected to that person for some reason. It’s very esoteric and wanky, I apologize. But yeah, I don’t appreciate boxes. I don’t think that is helpful to anybody or a very intelligent way of looking at human beings.”
Initially, her younger self was “comically mad at my parents for taking me away from the horses” and refused to learn English as a form of protest. However, she now recognizes this period as a crucial preparation for her acting career. “Because of that Anya says she ‘used to stress out over the fact that I didn’t have a home. I had no base. I had no place to land.'”
Relationship Amidst Distance
Taylor-Joy has maintained a relatively private relationship with her husband, Malcolm McRae. The couple, who first appeared together in New York, managed to sustain their relationship across the Atlantic, with Taylor-Joy often based in London and McRae in the United States. McRae is also an actor and a musician.
Speaking to British Vogue in March 2022, Taylor-Joy described her partner as her “hobby” and shared their shared enjoyment of quiet companionship. “I said to my partner the other day that he was my hobby. I see reading as something that I have to do. He loved it because he’s the same. I’ve finally found someone who will happily sit in silence with me reading. We’re basically 80 years old and seven at the same time and it works really well.”
Addressing the challenges of distance, she added: “Yes, it is [hard], but it’s also kind of great because when you’re together you’re really valuing the time that you have. Everyday mundane activities are so full of joy. I love going to the petrol station with him and filling up.”
