Anya Taylor-Joy Credits Jack Black With Teaching Her English
Anya Taylor-Joy’s native tongue is not English, which has come as a shock to many of her fans. Taylor-Joy’s parents are of Argentinian, Spanish and English descent. The actress was born in Florida but raised in Argentina until she was six years old, moving to London after.
Anya, 26, recently went viral after doing an interview in fluent Spanish. While discussing her role as Princess Peach in the newly released Super Mario Bros. Movie, she said she was “super starstruck” meeting Jack Black, who plays Bowser in the animated film.
Because the two didn’t meet while recording their parts individually, Taylor-Joy met Black during the premiere for the first time. “I very seldom get like that,” Taylor-Joy said of her starstruck moment. “But I was just running around earlier like, ‘Oh my God, Tenacious D, this is amazing.'”
RELATED: Anya Taylor-Joy Reveals How Jimmy Fallon ‘Saved’ Her Life
The school she attended when she first moved to London would play 2003’s School of Rock every Friday. “I didn’t really speak much English, if any,” she told Buzzfeed UK. “Harry Potter, School of Rock, Jumanji. That’s how I learned English.”
@buzzfeeduk Jumanji english lessons anyone?? 🐛 #mario #anyataylorjoy #anyataylorjoyedit #anyataylorjoyqueen #mario #mariomovie #supermario #supermarioworld #supermariomovie #chrispratt #themenu #queensgambit #queensgambitnetflix
♬ original sound - BuzzFeed UK
Her Love For Jack Black
Her love for Jack Black runs deep, as she told the publication that one of her go-to karaoke songs is “Tribute” by Tenacious D. “I do all the voices,” she said. “That’s always awesome.” If she were ever given the chance to perform the song with Black, she said, “I’d die. Literally. I think part of the reason why my best friend and I decided we were friends in the space of an evening was because she started singing it once, and I leapt up from the dining room table and was like, ‘We got this, we’re gonna perform the hell out of this right now!'”
Being fluent in Spanish, Taylor-Joy says she would like her next project to work with “any Spanish-speaking directors” to make a movie in Spanish. “I’d love to do that.”