Ella Purnell

Ella Purnell
Purnell in 2018
Born	Ella Summer Purnell (1996-09-17) 17 September 1996 (age 28) London, England
Occupation	Actress[1]
Years active	2009–present

Ella Summer Purnell (born (1996-09-17)17 September 1996)^[2] is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress in West End theatre and films such as Never Let Me Go (2010), Intruders (2011), and Maleficent (2014). Her other films include Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Churchill (2017), and Army of the Dead (2021).

On television, Purnell has starred in the mystery series Ordeal by Innocence (2018), the historical miniseries Belgravia (2020), the thriller Yellowjackets (2021–present), the post-apocalyptic drama series Fallout (2024–present) and the dark comedy Sweetpea (2024-present). She has also voiced Jinx in Arcane (2021–2024) and Gwyndala in Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–2024).

Ella Summer Purnell was born on 17 September 1996 in the Whitechapel area of London, England, United Kingdom.^[2] She grew up in Bethnal Green area of her hometown.^[3] She attended Bethnal Green Montessori, Forest School, the City of London School for Girls, and the Young Actors Theatre Islington.^[4] She also attended weekly classes at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, studying acting, singing, and dance, and was represented by their in-house talent agency.

Upon finishing high school at 18, Purnell intended to put a pause on her acting career, winning a place at university with the intention of becoming a children's writer or teacher.^[5] She decided to travel the world for a year to "find herself" and was subsequently offered a role in Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016). As it had been her dream to work with Burton, she accepted. Purnell described her decision to defer university as "bittersweet at first because it felt like a lost opportunity of a different path in life," but looking back, she was glad she continued acting.^[6]

In 2009, Purnell was cast in a production of Oliver! at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[7] Towards the end of her time in Oliver!, she was cast as the role of Young Ruth (played by Keira Knightley as an adult) in Mark Romanek's film Never Let Me Go.^[8] It was released in 2010 to positive reviews. She was then cast as Kayleigh in Gustavo Ron's 2010 film Ways to Live Forever,^[9] and as Mia in the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo film Intruders.^[10] Purnell was named by Screen International as one of 10 UK Stars of Tomorrow.^[11] She also appeared in the BBC HD film short Candy in June 2011.

In 2013, Purnell appeared in the feature film Kick-Ass 2 as the character Dolce. The following year, she starred in the independent film Wildlike, which earned her a number of accolades at film festivals and played the teenage version of Angelina Jolie's titular character in Disney's Maleficent. In 2016, Purnell starred in Tim Burton's adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.^[12] In 2017, she played Mia in Access All Areas.^[13] Later that year, Purnell appeared in the historical drama film Churchill, playing Winston Churchill's secretary Helen Garrett.^[14]

In 2018, Purnell appeared as Hester Argyll in the BBC mini-series Ordeal by Innocence.^[15] Later that year, Purnell starred in the leading role of the Starz show Sweetbitter,.^[16] She played Tess, a naive 22-year-old who moves to New York City to pursue a new life, and gets caught up in the world of fine dining.^[17] It was announced in December 2019 that Starz had cancelled the series after two seasons.^[18] In 2020, Purnell played Lady Maria Grey in Julian Fellowes's period drama Belgravia, co-produced by ITV and Epix.^[19] In 2021, she began starring as Jackie in the Showtime drama series Yellowjackets.^[20] Later that year she voiced Gwyn in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy and Jinx in the Netflix animated series Arcane. In 2024, she starred as Lucy MacLean in the Amazon Prime Video drama series Fallout.^[21] In 2024, Purnell played the lead role in the dark comedy television series Sweetpea, garnering critical praise for her work. Purnell also served as an executive producer for the series.^[22][23][24]

As of May 2024^[update], Purnell splits her time between London and Los Angeles.^[25] She was dating musician Max Bennett Kelly for some time before, since at least June 2022, she started referring to him as her life partner.^[25][26] Purnell plays the piano.^[27]

In 2016, then 19-year-old Purnell worked with former Forest School, Walthamstow schoolmate Arifa Nasim to launch Educate2Eradicate,^[28] a UK-based organisation building on Nasim's grassroots efforts to eradicate honour based violence and addressing the issue of forced child marriage.^[29]

• Ella Purnell at IMDb