Anya Taylor-Joy On Almost Quitting Acting Career Before Snagging ‘Queen’s Gambit’ Lead Role

Anya Taylor-Joy has opened up about a difficult time in her life where she thought quitting her acting career would be the best solution to her problems.

In an interview with Elle for the magazine’s May 2021 Rising Stars issue, the 25-year-old Hollywood actress dropped a bombshell when she disclosed that she almost walked away from the entertainment industry before snagging the lead role in “The Queen’s Gambit.”

According to her, she was “broken” and “frightened of everything” at the start of 2019 as she was going through “some emotional relationship stuff.” At the time, she was doing “Emma” after completing two projects back to back.

Due to the emotional turmoil and the stress from all the work she was doing, Taylor-Joy confided in her “Emma” co-star and good friend Mia Goth that she was contemplating on quitting acting for good.

“I turned to her and said, ‘I think I’m going to quit acting. I don’t think I can do this.’ And I’ve never seen Mia look so worried in my life,” she said.

Taylor-Joy then told her friend that she felt like she needed to back out at that point, so she could try to focus on nursing her wounded heart. However, Goth talked her out of it by making her realize how important acting is to her.

“And she was like, ‘No, that would be really bad. You can't not have the thing that is your oxygen.’ I'm really glad she said that,” Taylor-Joy said.

Thankfully, Taylor-Joy listened to her friend and moved forward with her acting career. She went on to play Beth Harmon in Netflix’s limited series “The Queen’s Gambit,” and the show proved to be a success as it secured 62 million views in the first 28 days of its release.

For her portrayal of the chess prodigy, Taylor-Joy harvested several recognitions during the awards season, including a Golden Globe Award, Critics’ Choice Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as per a separate Elle report.

In February, Taylor-Joy spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the possibility of having a second season for the well-received series. She admitted that they actually never thought of making a sequel, but she would be down for it if given a chance.

“Not to disappoint anybody, but we just never thought about it. It was always a sapling to tree transition. You see her grow, you leave her in a good place. … That being said, I adore the entire team that made it and I would jump at the chance to work with them again,” she said.