It has been 10 years since audiences were introduced to Anya Taylor-Joy.
Over that time, the actress has built one of the most quietly impressive and eclectic filmographies of any actress of her generation. She has given acclaimed performances on both the big and small screens, worked with esteemed filmmakers like Edgar Wright, George Miller and Denis Villeneuve and dipped her toes into productions of just about every size and genre. She is positioned to only further prove her versatility and range as an actress again this year with her roles in “Lucky,” the crime thriller currently airing on Apple TV, and “Dune: Part Three,” the final planned installment of Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi trilogy.
The latter’s release is still several months away, but “Lucky” viewers are getting regular reminders of Taylor-Joy’s star power every week on Apple TV. The actress is a killer force in “Lucky,” which feels, in many ways, like a propulsive, thrill-seeking showcase for its star’s unique, fiercely intelligent screen presence. So, in honor of her ongoing star turn in “Lucky,” here are Anya Taylor-Joy’s best performances to date, ranked.
7. Lily Reynolds in “Thoroughbreds” (2018)
“My characters just happen to inhabit very dark worlds,” Taylor-Joy told IndieWire in a 2018 interview while discussing Hollywood typecasting. One of those just happens to be the stifled New England-dwelling Lily, who has returned from boarding school to her widower mother (Francie Smith) and her cold, vieux riche boyfriend Mark (Paul Sparks), whom she despises. An unlikely friendship — more aptly, an unsettling and deep mutual understanding — soon blossoms in “Thoroughbreds” between Taylor-Joy’s Lily and Olivia Cooke’s Amanda, an ostracized former friend of Lily’s who doesn’t experience any feelings.
The off-beat black comedy thriller — part coming-of-age story, part revenge narrative — is reminiscent of “Heathers” in its dissection of cruel teen dynamics and its bubblegum approach to murder, and Taylor-Joy shines in a role that deftly showcases her propensity to make viewers equally uncomfortable and enthralled. The indie fare is also the last film featuring the late Anton Yelchin, who plays a sleazy drug dealer who becomes involved in the Lily and Amanda’s scheme. — Natalie Oganesyan
6. Furiosa in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (2024)
Taking on an iconic character is never an easy feat, and even less so when the only other person who has played the character happens to be an actress of Charlize Theron’s caliber. Anya Taylor-Joy did both those things when she signed on to star as the titular lead in director George Miller’s divisive but wildly underrated “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” Taylor-Joy capably leads the film as a younger version of the hardened post-apocalyptic warrior first played by Theron, and she does not make the mistake of trying to replicate her predecessor’s performance.
Instead, Taylor-Joy makes Furiosa her own, offering viewers a version of the character whose disillusionment is still in active battle with her ingrained, optimistic romanticism. Taylor-Joy meets the film’s emotional and physical demands with fitting intensity and emerges, quite like her character, victorious. — Alex Welch
5. Emma Woodhouse in “Emma.” (2020)
There is a reason why director Autumn de Wilde’s delightfully colorful Oscar-nominated take on a Jane Austen classic was cited as a comfort movie fit at the the height of the COVID quarantine and beyond, and it’s thanks in no small part to Taylor-Joy’s spot-on portrayal of its eponymous heroine.
Taylor-Joy plays the lead role in “Emma.” as the effervescent chronic meddler originated by the Regency author, adding a sensibility that expertly toes the line between earnestness and self-involvement. It’s bubbly as much as it is brilliant, and a joy to behold time and time again. — NO
4. Thomasin in “The Witch” (2016)
Filmmaker Robert Eggers’ debut feature explores the gradual unraveling of a Pilgrim family as a result of the forces of witchcraft. The horror film stars a fresh-faced 18-year-old Taylor-Joy as Thomasin, the family’s eldest daughter, who becomes the prime suspect in the family’s accusations of practicing black magic as a result of circumstances outside her control.
Taylor-Joy plays Thomasin in “The Witch” with an innocence that is eventually forced to turn sour and vengeful, resulting in an eerie meditation on persecution, ostracism and the death of a community. — NO
3. Luciana Armstrong in “Lucky” (2026)
“Lucky” feels, in more ways than one, like a greatest hits compilation of Taylor-Joy’s career so far. The Apple TV series gives the actress the chance to not only portray the kind of wily quick-thinking that she proved uniquely well-suited to perform in “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Emma.,” but also the athleticism and action-movie chops that she demonstrated previously in “Furiosa.” To say that Taylor-Joy rises to meet those twin demands would be an understatement.
She carries “Lucky” on her shoulders and makes it look easy, ensuring that her character’s largely reactive state never transforms into passivity. In Taylor-Joy’s hands, Lucky herself comes across as an intelligent and immensely capable woman, one who wears her emotional and physical wounds not just like armor but like active, throbbing reminders of the very pain she is trying to escape. “Lucky” may not get every note of its story right, but Taylor-Joy never takes a wrong step as its eponymous heroine. — AW
2. Olga in “The Northman” (2022)
Taylor-Joy has no real business making as seismic a mark in “The Northman” as she does. Playing Olga of the Birch Forest, a Slavic sorceress who ends up the partner of Alexander Skarsgård’s vengeful Viking prince Amleth, Taylor-Joy is slotted into the kind of role that could — in a lesser performer’s hands — come across as a bland female love interest for a battle-weary male hero. Instead, Taylor-Joy all but devours every single scene she is in. Reuniting with Eggers, Taylor-Joy not only brings some much-needed feminine energy to a film that is purposefully overflowing with machismo, but she also injects it with a ferocity that simultaneously complements and stands apart from that of Skarsgård’s Amleth.
In “The Northman,” Taylor-Joy just so happens to be at the center of one of the most quietly beautiful shots Eggers has ever composed. Even more importantly, she brings so many conflicting, overwhelming emotions to her character’s show-stopping, late-film monologue that she makes you accept it without question when the seas’ winds immediately begin to flow in her favor afterward. She is, in other words, a force of elemental power in “The Northman.” — AW
1. Beth Harmon in “The Queen’s Gambit” (2020)
Based on Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel of the same name, Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” catapulted Taylor-Joy to her current status as a household name. The limited series follows chess prodigy Beth Harmon from her orphanage days, where she first learned the game, to her adoptive home, where she mastered the craft. Taylor-Joy, who plays the teen and young adult versions of the show’s singular prodigy, portrays her with a reserved cloak that hides the depths of her troubled inner life. The result is a performance that is as nuanced as it is addictively eclectic, earning the actress an Emmy nomination, as well as a SAG Award, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award.
It is a star-making performance for a reason. Taylor-Joy’s turn in “The Queen’s Gambit” is so effortlessly commanding and delicately layered that it proved her capable of delivering the kind of challenging, mature work one hopes to build a career around. Six years after “The Queen’s Gambit” took the world by storm, it remains the best performance Taylor-Joy has ever given. — NO & AW
