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Anya Taylor-Joy Refused To Speak English For Two Years Out Of Trauma

Anya Taylor-Joy Refused To Speak English For Two Years Out Of Trauma

The 24-year-old has gone on to win a golden globe for her role in Queen's Gambit

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

Anya Taylor-Joy refused to speak English out of trauma that she experienced when he family moved to London from Argentina - tonight she won her first Golden Globe for her role in Queen's Gambit.

The 24-year-old lived in Buenos Aires with her family until she was six before they moved to London. She has previously spoken to the Wall Street Journal about the transition.

Anya Taylor-Joy winning the Golden Globe.
NBC

Speaking to the publication she said there was 'lots of horse-riding, lots of animals,' in Argentina, adding: "The move [to London] was very traumatic to me. All of a sudden I was in this intense big city."

Taylor-Joy said she refused to learn English for two years in the hopes that her parents would take her back to South America. She finally became grateful, adding: "Being a Londoner informs so much about my sense of humour."

When it comes to Queen's Gambit, Anya plays Beth Harmon and explained how she connected to the character right away. She told the WSJ: "Reading it, I was like, this hurt - but it hurts because I recognise it.

"We're taught as human beings to not really say the way we're feeling and when you find somebody that feels the same way you do, you [think], I'm not alone in this."

The seven-part series follows Harmon's meteoric rise through the chess world in 1950s and '60s America as she becomes one of the fiercest players in the game.

Netflix

At the annual Golden Globes Awards, Taylor-Joy was up against fellow nominees Cate Blanchett for Mrs. America, Daisy Edgar-Jones for Normal People, Shira Haas for Unorthodox and Nicole Kidman for The Undoing.

Accepting the award, she said: "I would love to thank Netflix and the HFPA [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] of course. Thank you for letting us make this show that we wanted to make. Our beautiful cast, our beautiful crew thank you so much."

She added: "It's wonderful that everyone's seen the show but I would do this project again and again and again, I learnt so much, I'm so grateful. Thank you to the audiences that have watched it."

When the chess show was released on Netflix, the streaming service revealed that it was a record-setting series that was watched by millions.

In a tweet, Netflix wrote: "A record-setting 62 million households chose to watch The Queen's Gambit in its first 28 days, making it Netflix's biggest scripted limited series to date."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, Netflix