'Queen's Gambit' Anya Taylor-Joy Thinks Her Face 'Was Too Big' to Become an Actress
Actress Anya Taylor-Joy is now the most known as being the "Queen Gambit" lead star. But those who have went and looked for more of her work would have known her breakout film was "The Witch," where she starred as Thomasin and got rave reviews for her performance.
Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, because the actress revealed that watching herself on this movie, now on Netflix, was actually very traumatizing for her. So much so that it affected her subsequent acting jobs and her overall confidence. She even revealed that she almost quit acting altogether because of if - because she looks "too big" on that movie.
None of her thoughts are what people were thinking though. The 25-year-old actress earned rave reviews for her portrayal and launched her as an official actress after starting out in the industry as a model.
The Queen's Gambit star talked to The Hollywood Reporter and said that she was so 'devastated' after seeing "The Witch" she thought her acting career was over and done with.
"Rob showed us the film maybe two hours before the audience screening, and I was devastated,' she started. "I thought I'd never work again, I still get shivers thinking about it. It was just the worst feeling of, "I have let down the people I love most in the world. I didn't do it right," she added.
The issue was because she thought her face was too large. Comparing her face now and then, one can truly see marked differences, but not enough to say she was too big or anything. After all, she was also very young at the time.
"And I'm quite verbose, I like to talk, I like to communicate. I did not talk, I just cried. I couldn't handle seeing my face that large,' she revealed.
This goes to show the pressure of young women in the industry, who can easily find something to not like about themselves when they are placed in the limelight.
In the years following this breakout movie, she kept having the nagging thought that she would not last in the industry. Not just because she thought no one would hire her anymore, but she herself thought she could not do this anymore.
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After "The Witch," contrary to her expectations, she found herself working all the time, which led her to lose sight of herself. "These are pivotal years in my development as a person, and I had put all of my energy into fleshing out other people, and I suddenly got to a point where I had no idea who I was, trying to hold on to relationships, and trying to build a home without having any kind of root or tether, because I hadn't figured out that I had to be that for myself,' she said.
"Queen's Gambit" changed all these thoughts around and she suddenly enjoyed acting once more.