Anya Taylor-Joy reveals she almost quit acting before ‘The Queen’s Gambit’

Anya Taylor-Joy skyrocketed to fame following the release of Netflix’s The Queen Gambit.

What many of her die-hard fans may be unaware of is how the Emma actor almost quit acting right before she landed her breakthrough role as chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon on the Netflix series.

Talking to Elle, Taylor-Joy revealed: "Much the same way as Beth needed chess, I needed acting. I needed to believe in a place where I could be valued and appreciated, and actually have something to contribute rather than constantly feeling like, 'What is wrong with me, and why do I not fit in?'"

"I had been working back-to-back — just before 'Emma,' I'd done two projects at the same time, and I was going through some emotional relationship stuff," she said.

"So at the beginning of 2019, I was just really broken and frightened of everything, and Mia and I were driving back from rehearsal. 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 was like, 'But…that's what you do. You can't not…what are you talking about?' I was like, 'I think I need to back out now and just let it be and try to take care of my heart.' And she was like, 'No, that would be really bad. You can't not have the thing that is your oxygen.'"

The actor revealed that she is “really glad” that she got the advice.