After a series of small television roles, her breakthrough came with a leading role in the horror film The Witch She continued with roles in the horror film Split and its sequel Glass , the black comedy film Thoroughbreds , and the television crime drama series Peaky Blinders — She then appeared in the horror film Last Night in Soho , the action film The Northman , and the black comedy film The Menu Her father is an Argentine of English and Scottish descent, the son of a British father and an Anglo-Argentine mother.
Taylor-Joy lived with her family in Buenos Aires and attended Northlands School until the age of six, when the family relocated to the Victoria area of London. She struggled socially at school, recalling:. I didn't really feel like I fit in anywhere. The kids just didn't understand me in any shape or form I used to get locked in lockers.
Taylor-Joy initially trained in dance, studying ballet until the age of During a modelling shoot promoting the television series Downton Abbey , which she had almost rejected because she was studying for her GCSE examinations, Taylor-Joy was noticed by the Downton Abbey actor Allen Leech while running errands for the crew and while reciting the Seamus Heaney poem "Digging" for a forthcoming screentest.
He later introduced her to his agent, with whom she signed as an actress. Taylor-Joy was removed from the final cut of her first acting role as a background 'Feeder Girl' in the fantasy comedy-horror Vampire Academy , with her role left uncredited. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim.
The following year, Taylor-Joy starred in Luke Scott 's science fiction horror film Morgan , playing the title character. It received negative reviews and was a commercial failure, but Booth Michigan ' s John Serba wrote that "Taylor-Joy disarms us with a performance that keenly teeter-totters between little-girl innocent and dead-eyed viciousness.
