This is where you recognise the cast of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit from

Yes that is the kid from Love Actually


Netflix’s latest limited series The Queen’s Gambit is the story of a teenage chess prodigy who is also battling an addiction to tranquillisers. The series has had rave reviews, it’s already got a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it is largely due to some spectacular cast performances.

The seven part series stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the main character, Beth, who starts her life off as an orphan before being adopted and becoming obsessed with winning chess championships in the fiercely competitive male dominated chess world. And amongst these chess players are definitely some actors you will recognise, including Dudley from Harry Potter.

Whilst chess may not sound the sexiest of topics, people on Twitter are loving it and saying things like: “I never knew Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster playing chess could be so hot.”

So if you’ve been wondering who all the actors are behind the lineup of fit chess players then this is where you’ve definitely seen the cast of The Queen’s Gambit before:

Anya Taylor-Joy – Beth Harmon

Anya Taylor-Joy plays the main character Beth and you will probably best know her for her roles in Emma, Glass, Split, The Miniaturist and for appearing in a number of episodes of Peaky Blinders.

She’s only 24 years old and has already been nominated for a BAFTA award, had her first role in 2014 and got over a million followers on Instagram.

Bill Camp – Mr. Shaibel

Bill Camp plays Mr. Shaibel in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. He’s the one who first teaches Beth to play chess in the orphanage.

He is most well known for his roles in 12 Years a Slave, Birdman and The Joker. Bill has been acting since the late 80s and has appeared on stage, film and TV.

Harry Melling – Harry Beltik

Harry Melling stars in the limited series as Harry Beltik, who begins as one Beth’s competitors but soon becomes her friend and they form a romantic relationship of sorts.

If you feel like you recognise Harry that’s because he played Dudley Dursely in the Harry Potter movies. More recently though he starred in Netflix’s The Devil All The Time alongside Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland.

Marielle Heller – Alma Wheatley

Director and actress Marielle Heller takes on the role of Alma, Beth’s adoptive mother. After her husband leaves her, she creates a plan to get Beth winning as many matches as possible in order to make more money.

Marielle is more known for her directing credentials, most notably directing the films The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood starring Tom Hanks.

Marcin Dorocinski – Vasily Borgov

Polish actor Marcin Dorocinski takes on the role of Russian Vasily Borgov in The Queen’s Gambit, who is Beth’s fiercest competitor.

Marcin usually plays troubled characters and began acting in the mid 1990s.

Moses Ingram – Jolene

Moses Ingram plays the role of Jolene who is a fellow orphan Beth meets when she is young and remains friends long after Beth leaves the orphanage.

The Queen’s Gambit is only Moses’ second role, having appeared in a short film previously, her next project however will be Macbeth alongside her Queen’s Gambit co-star Harry Melling.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster – Benny Watts

Thomas Brodie-Sangster, aka the guy who always looks younger than his 30 years, joins The Queen’s Gambit cast as Benny Watts. Benny is one of Beth’s main competitors but also one of her allies.

You probably recognise Thomas from Love Actually, Nanny McPhee and more recently for his role as Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones.

The first season of The Queen’s Gambit is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Featured image credit: Netflix.com

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Netflix’s next true crime series is about the mysterious unsolved murder of a socialite

All the major ways Netflix changed Rebecca from the original book

These are all the boujie filming locations from Netflix’s Rebecca you can actually visit