Anya Taylor-Joy lying on bed with face on hands
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When it comes to great actors of this generation, it’s hard to find a more impressive star than Anya Taylor-Joy. While she may regret her performance in one of her most significant films, most of her work has been enormously profitable. More importantly, Anya has proven herself to be one of the most gifted thespians currently working.


Of course, with successes such as Peaky Blinders, Last Night In Soho, Glass, Amsterdam, and The Queen’s Gambit, Anya has also had to deal with the mounting pressures of fame. But all of the attention on her is just one of the relatively new aspects of her life that have altered her career since her first role in 2014.

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, regarding her role in the new film The Menu, Anya Taylor-Joy shed light on how she’s come to terms with how her career has changed over the years. As well as how these changes have affected her mental health.


How M. Night Shyamalan Changed Anya Taylor-Joy’s Career

While Anya Taylor-Joy became an A-list actor thanks to her work in The Queen’s Gambit, horror/suspense director M. Night Shyamalan should be credited as one of those chiefly responsible for launching Anya’s career into the stratosphere. Not only did he cast her in both 2016’s Split and 2019’s Glass, but he gave her some advice that altered her perspective on her craft.

In her tremendous interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Anya Taylor-Joy claimed that M. Night Shyamalan told her to cry her character’s tears and not her own while filming a scene for Split.

Related: Anya Taylor-Joy Says She Sometimes Gives Too Much Of Herself While Acting

“My entire approach to acting has changed since that moment. That’s my whole philosophy, really,” Anya Taylor-Joy admitted.

Does Anya Taylor-Joy Still Love Acting?

While discussing Ralph Fiennes’ character in The Menu with The Hollywood Reporter, Anya Taylor-Joy addressed the topic still loving her career. After all, her life has changed significantly since her earliest years. Most notably, everyone wants to work with her. That means she hasn’t really stopped working and that can cause it all to feel too much like a job as opposed to a dream.

“I’ve always worked back to back. Originally, I just thought that was the way that it went for all actors,” Anya Taylor-Joy said to THR. “All these characters were coming to me that I needed to play, and now, having done this for seven years, I’m in a position where I have to be way more picky about what I choose. I do think that one can spend their passion, and you want to make sure that you’re putting your passion into things that you care about so that it’s actually refueling that well rather than just taking from you.”

Related: Anya Taylor-Joy Taught Herself How To Play Chess For The Queen’s Gambit But Was She Actually Good?

Anya went on to say that she “never” wants to fall out of love with her “art”.

“I’m so in love with it. It’s the most sacred relationship that I have, and the idea of being disenchanted or ungrateful for it would just break my heart.”

Anya Taylor-Joy’s Battle With Panic Attacks

Anya Taylor-Joy has been quite honest about her struggle with her mental health. And this includes having a panic attack on the set of her movie, Emma.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself and I had a panic attack on set one day (during Emma) just because the hours are really intense and I’m in every single scene and I was trying to learn all of these different skills whilst also filming,” Anya explained to Glamour.

“I had a panic attack and my instant reaction was, ‘I’ve messed up!’ And the love that I got from everybody on that set meant I was only down for half an hour, but half an hour for me is like, ‘I’ve delayed filming for half an hour!’ Everyone was just so kind me and they were like, ‘you’re doing great and this is a lot and it’s okay to have a wobble.’ So, I think they just made me a bit more comfortable with being human.”

According to EOnline, Nicholas Hoult helped Anya through yet another on-set panic attack on the set of their 2022 film, The Menu. While some of Anya’s colleagues have helped her through some challenging moments, the actor knows that she needs to do more to help herself.

Related: What Nicholas Hoult Has Said About Working With Anya Taylor-Joy

“I definitely need to take more time to check in with myself,” Anya admitted to The Hollywood Reporter.

On top of her busy schedule, Anya has blamed “method acting” as contributing to her struggle to create more time for relaxation between jobs.

“I never had any intention of being a method actor, but the more movies I do, the line is getting blurrier and blurrier. I’m finding it harder to disconnect between what is occurring for my [character] and what is occurring for me,” Anya admitted to THR.

She went on to say, “It’s never a problem on set because I like to make my sets a really happy and supportive place to be. It’s more when I go home; I just have all of these feelings. I’m either trying to pinpoint them in my own life or I’m carrying traits from somebody else that just aren’t me at all. So I think I need to spend a bit more time learning how to put a barrier up because it is dissolving at an alarming rate”

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