---
name: "Ella Purnell"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ella-purnell"
fi1m_id: "ella-purnell"
imdb_id: "nm3480246"
tmdb_id: 989325
wikidata_id: "Q1331706"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "17 September 1996"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 69
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-07T17:27:15.214824+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ella Purnell

## Identity

Ella Purnell

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ella-purnell
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ella-purnell
- **IMDb ID:** nm3480246
- **TMDB ID:** 989325
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1331706
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Purnell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1331706, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3480246/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/989325

Actor. Born 17 September 1996 in Whitechapel, London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 17 September 1996, Whitechapel, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 2010–present
- **Also known as:** Elena Purnell, เอลล่า เพอร์เนลล์, 艾拉彭內爾, אלה פרנל, Ella Summer Purnell, الا پورنل
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 4 acting, 1 crew
- **Average Fi1m score:** 69, as actor, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 58 (3), 2020s 78 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 69 to 64 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Action 1, Action & Adventure 1, Adventure 1, Crime 1, Mystery 1
- **Screen time:** 3 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $71m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Purnell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1331706, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3480246/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/989325

## Coming up

- *ViQueens* (2026-12-26), as Ingrid (voice)

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Fallout*](https://film.one/tv/fallout.md) (80)
- **Apple TV:** [*Yellowjackets*](https://film.one/tv/yellowjackets.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Ella Purnell

> Ella Purnell is especially good at playing young women whose optimism comes under pressure. Her Lucy in *Fallout* gives the grotesque comedy a human cost, and makes a wandering series worth following.

In *Fallout* (2024), Ella Purnell makes Lucy MacLean’s reactions count. The series can be funny about violence without making her response to it seem foolish, and that is a considerable part of its appeal. We found the brutality harder to laugh off because Purnell gives us someone whose distress we take seriously. She does not use Lucy’s likeability to make the wasteland seem safer than it is.

Her early films included *Never Let Me Go* (2010), playing young Ruth, and Tim Burton’s *Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children* (2016). Television gave her a first US lead in *Sweetbitter* (2018), then the breakthrough of Jackie Taylor in *Yellowjackets* (2021). Jackie’s high-school status is tested by the demands of survival. The connection to Lucy is clear: Purnell keeps finding women whose confidence about how life works is about to be tested.

Her expressive eyes are an obvious resource, particularly in close-up, but *Arcane* (2021–2024) makes it harder to reduce her acting to that. As the voice of Jinx, she moves between playfulness, fragility and menace. Those changes let us hear the character’s conflicting feelings without needing to see Purnell’s face.

The useful comparison in *Fallout* is with Walton Goggins, whose Ghoul gives the nastier comedy its confidence. Purnell makes the hurt register; Goggins makes the next encounter less predictable. Both performances encourage us to stay with a series whose wandering plot does not always repay the attention. The balance between their strands and that of Aaron Moten’s Maximus is uneven. That can make the slower passages more trying, because we care enough about Lucy to want her next scene to count.

*Sweetpea* (2024), in which she plays Rhiannon Lewis and serves as executive producer, adds responsibility behind the camera. Her growing list of young women under extreme pressure does suggest a risk of repetition. We would welcome a part that asks something else of her. Start with *Fallout*, provided its mixture of gore and comedy appeals.

## Biography

Ella Purnell is a British actress. Born on 17 September 1996 in Whitechapel, London, she began her career as a child actress in West End theatre and attended weekly classes at the Sylvia Young Theatre School.

Her film roles include *Never Let Me Go* (2010), *Maleficent* (2014), *Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children* (2016) and *Army of the Dead* (2021). On television she has appeared in *Sweetbitter* (2018), *Belgravia* (2020), *Yellowjackets* (2021–present) and *Fallout* (2024–present), in which she plays Lucy MacLean. She voiced Jinx in *Arcane* (2021–2024).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, fallout.fandom.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Performed in (4) — the average rests on these

- *Fallout* (2024), Fi1m 80, as Lucy MacLean — [page](https://film.one/tv/fallout.md)
- *Yellowjackets* (2021), Fi1m 76, as Jackie Taylor — [page](https://film.one/tv/yellowjackets.md)
- *Kick-Ass 2* (2013), Fi1m 46, as Dolce — [page](https://film.one/film/kick-ass-2.md)
- *Never Let Me Go* (2010), Fi1m 73, as Young Ruth — [page](https://film.one/film/never-let-me-go.md)

### Crew (1)

- *Maleficent* (2014), Fi1m 55, Stunt Double — [page](https://film.one/film/maleficent.md)

## Complete filmography (34)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *ViQueens* (2026), as Ingrid (voice)
- *Sweetpea* (2024), series, as Rhiannon · Executive Producer
- *Fallout* (2024), series, as Lucy MacLean — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/fallout.md)
- *Junk Male* (2023), as Decency 'Dee' DiMartini · Director, Writer, Producer
- *Not A Mourning Person* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Toast* (2023), as Narrator (voice)
- *Yellowjackets* (2021), series, as Jackie Taylor — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/yellowjackets.md)
- *Arcane* (2021), series, as Jinx (voice)
- *Star Trek: Prodigy* (2021), series, as Gwyn (voice)
- *Army of the Dead* (2021), as Kate Ward
- *INVINCIBLE* (2021), series, as Jane (voice) — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/invincible-2021.md)
- *Belgravia* (2020), series, as Maria Grey
- *UFO* (2018), as Natalie
- *Right Place, Wrong Tim* (2018), as Clement Bell
- *Sweetbitter* (2018), series, as Tess
- *Ordeal by Innocence* (2018), series, as Hester Argyll
- *Oksijan* (2018), as Inca
- *Access All Areas* (2017), as Mia
- *Churchill* (2017), as Helen Garrett
- *Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children* (2016), as Emma
- *The Journey Is the Destination* (2016), as Amy
- *The Legend of Tarzan* (2016), as Young Jane Body Double (uncredited)
- *Wildlike* (2015), as Mackenzie
- *Cyberbully* (2015), as Megan Turner
- *Maleficent* (2014), as Teen Maleficent · Stunt Double — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/maleficent.md)
- *Kick-Ass 2* (2013), as Dolce — Fi1m 46, [page](https://film.one/film/kick-ass-2.md)
- *Intruders* (2011), as Mia Farrow
- *Candy* (2011), as Candy
- *Ways to Live Forever* (2010), as Kaleigh
- *Never Let Me Go* (2010), as Young Ruth — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/never-let-me-go.md)
- *The Return of Stanley Atwell*, as Pamela
- *Hot Ted*, as Amy · Producer
- *The Scurry*, Actor
- *That Time We Met*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-95482fb341cb.png) Ella Purnell — Fandomuniverse, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Ella_Purnell_at_MEGACON_Orlando_2025.png/1280px-Ella_Purnell_at_MEGACON_Orlando_2025.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Mark Romanek with author Kazuo Ishiguro and several Never Let Me Go cast members on October 13, 2010](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-d8e614452c64.jpg) Director Mark Romanek with author Kazuo Ishiguro and several Never Let Me Go cast members on October 13, 2010 — Bex.Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Cast_of_Never_Let_Me_Go_%40_BFI_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Cast_of_Never_Let_Me_Go_%40_BFI_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ella Purnell in 2018](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-2aa7de36c72f.png) Ella Purnell in 2018 — Valder Beebe Show, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Ella_Purnell_2018_uncropped.png/1280px-Ella_Purnell_2018_uncropped.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ella Purnell in 2018](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-138386982545.png) Ella Purnell in 2018 — Valder Beebe Show, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Ella_Purnell_2018_uncropped_%28re-cropped%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-7609e6187e73.jpg) Ella Purnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-f0b80d863ac7.jpg) Ella Purnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-a8b4749cfcb3.jpg) Ella Purnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Ella Purnell at the Serpentine Summer Party in June 2017 (2020)](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-fef7c3b48837.png) Ella Purnell at the Serpentine Summer Party in June 2017 (2020) — INCA Productions, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Ella_Purnell_Serpentine_Summer_Party_2017.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Ella Purnell on stage at MEGACON Orlando 2025](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-4329421f429d.jpg) Ella Purnell on stage at MEGACON Orlando 2025 — Fandomuniverse, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Ella_Purnell_at_MEGACON_Orlando_2025.jpg/1280px-Ella_Purnell_at_MEGACON_Orlando_2025.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-3f9fd4c188e6.jpg) Ella Purnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-af7ff15ad9f8.jpg) Ella Purnell — Image via TMDB
- ![Ella Purnell](https://film.one/media/person/23414/gallery-a1cf6eba5640.jpg) Ella Purnell — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ella-purnell