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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Jacob Stolworthy

Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy says she isn’t ‘beautiful enough to be in films’

Photograph: Netflix

The Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy has said she doesn't think she's "beautiful enough" to be a film star.

The actor, 24, received the best reviews of her career to date in the Netflix drama, in which she plays chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon.

Despite the actor starring in films The Witch, Glass and Jane Austen adaptation Emma, she has revealed she doesn't think she has the look she believes are required for the big screen.

“I have never and I don’t think I will ever think of myself as beautiful," she told The Sun, adding: “I don’t think I’m beautiful enough to be in films."

Taylor-Joy, who was signed to Storm Management modelling agency when she was 16, continued: "It sounds pathetic and my boyfriend warns me people will think I’m an absolute d*** for saying these things, but I just think I’m weird looking."

She said she never goes to watch her films in the cinema and "genuinely had a panic attack" while shooting Emma.

"I thought, ‘I am the first ugly Emma and I can’t do this’, because the first line in the movie is, ‘I’m handsome, clever and rich’."

Taylor-Joy, who will next be seen in Edgar Wright film Last Night in Soho, was recently cast in George Miller's untitled Mad Max sequel.

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