10 Things To Know About Taylor Russell

Taylor Russell didn't grow up wealthy and recalls being on welfare at a time.

"I didn’t grow up in a wealthy family. My parents struggled; we were on welfare. Things changed a lot, so there was always an opportunity for reinvention, to create something new.” - via ELLE, November 2019

Taylor was born in Vancouver and moved 16 times before her 18th birthday.

Perhaps her acting ambitions are in her blood because Taylor takes after her father, who was also an actor for a living. Taylor Russell was born July 18, 1994, in Vancouver, Canada, but would move a whopping 16 times before she turned 18, a demand in the pursuit of her father's acting career and what would unintentionally set the tone for her adaptability.

In a 2022 interview with Dazed, she described her mother as an artist as well, though she doesn't rep the title as readily as Taylor or her father does. She also noted her family's inherent bohemian outlook on life. She shared, "I think it’s just part of their souls in some way. And it manifests in me, too.”

Before acting, there was ballet. Taylor Russell did ballet her whole life.

For Taylor, although acting would become her eventual love affair, her longest love came in the form of ballet. In a 2019 interview with Coveteur, she spoke about how her love for ballet would eventually lead to her love for acting:

"I did ballet my whole life, I love dancing. I wake up every morning and dance for 15 minutes, and it’s the only way I can get out of bed. I wanted to act when I was younger, but both of my parents worked full-time and couldn’t really be there for me on set. So they were like, ‘If you want to act, you have to wait until you’re old enough to do it on your own.’ After high school, I took an acting class and just knew that’s what I wanted to pursue. In many ways, I’m built for it, because I don’t really expect life to be a steady stream. I moved 16 times when I was a kid.”

Taylor Russell on what she'd be doing if it wasn't acting: 

“Hands down, I would be a kindergarten teacher. There’s nothing else I’d rather do. I love kids.” - Coveteur, 2019

Taylor Russell has a lightning bolt tattoo that is a replica of her hero Patti Smith's tattoo.

In her 2019 interview with ELLE, she admitted the punk singer and poet was "one of my heroes" and even has the same thin lightning bolt as Patti Smith but on her left wrist. A lightning bolt that cements the affinity she has for one of her idols. She also revealed that Patti's Just Kids is one of her favorite books, and she's read it at least 10 times.

In the Winter 2022 issues of Dazed, she spoke about her love for Patti's poetry again, "Her words are so deeply ingrained in the map of my body." She added, "I discovered her writing when I first moved here [to New York], and I felt akin to her in so many different ways, ways that have revealed themselves to me more with time and reflection.”

“There’s a line I’ll never forget, and I think it captures how I really feel: ‘No one expected me. Everything awaited me.’”

Taylor Russell on her insecurity and not wanting to be too fragile:

"I’m looking forward to the day that I’m 60, when I can have some real gusto behind the things that I’m saying. I’m working with actors right now who are a lot older than me, and everything they say is so meaningful. Because they’ve said it in a whole host of ways in their real lives already, one thousand times over.

"And my insecurity is always that I don’t have enough soul behind me for the words to really hit. I just want to keep gathering that, and the only way to do it is by being around people who keep shit real. You have to keep it real, because if you rely on things that will fade, everything’s going to shatter really quickly. And I never want to be that fragile.” - via Dazed, 2022

Taylor on her dream actors and directors she wants to work with:

“I love Paul Thomas Anderson. I love Mélanie Laurent so much. Marion Cotillard. I love Léa Seydoux, all the French actresses. My favorite director is Maïwenn. She did a movie called My King with Vincent Cassel. It’s like the French Blue Valentine. It’s one of the best films ever.” - Coveteur, 2019

Taylor on feeling shame when she was her most 'unlovable' and 'ungraceful':

“We are so ungraceful as human beings. At my most unlovable and ungraceful, I’ve felt so much shame. What would be so great in those times is to have someone embrace you. That’s when you need it the most.” - via ELLE, November 2019

Taylor Russell on her views on love amid rumors of a relationship with Harry Styles:

“I mean, love, a lot of the time, feels like a drug, you feel so insane. Being with the person all the time, you’d do anything for them. You’re like, ‘I wanna have all of this stuff with you and I wanna do everything with you.’ That feels like, especially when you’re not in love all the time… I have my distinct loves of my life and so I can remember the feelings of them pretty specifically and intensely. When I think about them, and being in love, it definitely feels like a drug. But honestly, I didn’t experiment with drugs much when I was a teenager and in my twenties.” - via The Face, August 2023

Taylor isn't big on 'volunteering' her feelings and she thinks 'it's weird.'

“I’m never going to be volunteering all of my feelings. I’m somebody who, annoyingly, complicatedly, needs things to be asked and pulled from me to talk about it. But even then I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, is this too much? Is this too much?’ So I need a partner who is going to do that or else it’s never going to work," she expressed her reluctance to vulnerability with The Face.

“It’s weird,” she added. “It’s like that thing when you feel vulnerable or on display for saying something, or talking too much or whatever. Saying something about yourself and then feeling like, ‘Oh no, I shouldn’t be talking about myself. I should be asking about you, because that’s the thing I should be doing and it’s not that interesting. We don’t need to talk about me, don’t worry. I’ll handle it.’”

Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.