Anya Taylor-Joy Had A Life-Changing Experience Pretending To Play The Guitar With The Beach Boys

Attention: if you attended a Beach Boys concert in the early 2010s where a teen girl came on stage and pretended to play the guitar, you were witnessing history. That teen girl grew up to be Emmy-winning actress (and future imperator) Anya Taylor-Joy.

“When I was a kid, the only music that I loved was music from the ’50s and ’60s, and so the Beach Boys were specifically very important to me,” The Menu star told host Drew Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show. “They were playing and I just ran to the very front and I was singing along to every single song, and so [Beach Boys vocalist] Mike Love stopped the concert and said, ‘OK, I understand why everybody else knows all the lyrics but there’s a child that knows all the lyrics.'”

Love pulled Taylor-Joy up on stage and handed her a guitar. “I don’t know what I’m doing with this, help,” she said before playing the self-proclaimed “greatest guitar solo of all-time.” Just kidding, she “didn’t play a single note.” But Taylor-Joy brought a photo of herself with the guitar (possibly this one) to a modeling agency and asked the scouts if they thought she could play it. Yes, they said. “Acting!” Taylor-Joy exclaimed while recalling the story to Barrymore. “I want to be an actor… So, yeah, big up, Mike Love.”

The key to being successful in Hollywood: jamming with the Beach Boys.