Anya Taylor-Joy reveals bizarre reason why she changes her accent all the time

If you are a world class actress working in Hollywood, it kind of goes without saying you might need to put on the odd accent now again.

Comes with the territory, right? Well... unless you are someone like Sean Connery or Arnold Schwarzenegger who would just use their strong native accents for any and all roles.

But more to the point, some film stars have a knack for their accent in films and make it quite believable, and Anya Taylor-Joy is certainly one such name.

Even when the cameras are not rolling, Taylor-Joy said she often switches accents (LiveKellyandRyan/YouTube)

But even when the cameras are not rolling, the actress has said she often switches accents and she can’t really help it.

Speaking on Live with Kelly and Ryan (now known as Kelly and Mark) in 2020, Taylor Joy gave insight into her background and how it influenced the way she speaks.

“I was born in the States, then went straight over to Argentina where all of my family is, then we moved to London and I started making movies,” she said.

“I was [in Argentina] from birth up and to 6 and then I only learned English when I was 8 because I was convinced that If I didn't speak the language in England then I would have to go home.

“But that didn’t work out. I had no friends so I needed to learn the language pretty quickly”

She added that as English isn’t her first language, when she does speak it, depending on who she is speaking with, her accent may change.

“The thing is, I have an English accent whenever I am talking to my mom but because it is not my first language I tend to mimic the people I am around and it is really difficult to keep it together,” she continued.

“I go to Ireland and all of a sudden I’ll start sounding Irish and I’m like ‘no, no, no, I am not making fun of you, I'm just trying to keep it together.”

Taylor-Joy joked she is often worried people will think she is mocking them by imitating their accent (LivewithKellyandRyan/YouTube)

Now while this was news to me, a lot of social media users said they did similar things and often caught themselves mimicking those around them.

“Omg this happens to me. I mimic accents based on who I’m around with,” one YouTube user wrote.

“I think many of us do this, especially those of us who started learning other languages when we were very young,” another added

“I tend to mimic accents as well and usually unconsciously haha,” a third commented.

“As an Aussie we mimic everyone’s accent. Over seas for two weeks? Yep we’ll be sure to come home with a new accent,” said another.

Topics: Anya Taylor-Joy, Celebrity, Film and TV, YouTube

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.