As the star of Amazon’s hit drama Fallout, Ella Purnell captivates viewers as a young adventurer filled with an “American can-do spirit” who braves the post-apocalyptic wasteland of California.
But fans of the sci-fi show were stunned to discover that the actress is actually not from America, but from London’s East End.
The 27-year-old pulls off such a flawless American accent in the series (as she has in previous shows like the plane crash drama Yellowjackets) that Americans were convinced she was one of their own.
“People are always surprised that I’m British, which is the biggest compliment ever,” she told US talk show host Jimmy Fallon earlier this month.
‘I was 16 when I did my first American accent for a film and I continued to do it off set. I thought that’s what real actors do, and then my co-star must have believed that I was actually American.
As the star of Amazon’s hit drama Fallout, Ella Purnell (pictured, in Fallout) captivates viewers as a young adventurer filled with an “American can-do spirit” who braves the post-apocalyptic wasteland of California.
But fans of the sci-fi show were surprised to discover that the actress is actually not from America, but from London’s East End (pictured: Ella in Fallout).
The 27-year-old pulls off such a flawless American accent in the series, as she has in previous shows like plane crash drama Yellowjackets, that Americans were convinced she was one of their own (pictured: Ella in Yellowjackets).
‘Then one day I quit. She was tired, I adopted my British accent and he didn’t believe I was English. He told me: “stop playing this character, you’re scaring me.” By the end he was making her cups of tea, listing the kings and queens of England… like, how do I prove it to you?
In reality, Ella was born in Whitechapel, the daughter of Suzy, a yoga teacher, and Simon, a Scottish businessman, and raised in nearby Bethnal Green. Her parents separated when she was two years old and her mother later married Jon Squirrell, owner of the exclusive Vault Gym in trendy Shoreditch.
She took acting classes from the age of nine at the Sylvia Young Theater School and got her big break in 2008, aged 12, when she beat out hundreds of other girls for a role in the West End musical Oliver.
Acting helped her pay for her education at the exclusive £25,000-a-year City of London School for Girls, where she first developed her knack for accents.
“Some of the girls took away my accent, so I started speaking more elegantly,” he said. “I learned survival skills pretty quickly.”
Meanwhile, her career was going from strength to strength and included the 2010 British film Never Let Me Go, Disney’s Maleficent and Julian Fellowes’ ITV period drama Belgravia, in which she played Lady Maria Grey.
But it hasn’t all been plain sailing and Ella has been open about her mental health issues, revealing that she self-harmed at 16.
She said: “I still have the scars and it’s something I will always regret, but by telling my own experiences I can start conversations and make other people feel less guilty.”
Meanwhile, her career was going from strength to strength and included Julian Fellowes’ ITV period drama Belgravia, in which she played Lady Maria Gray (pictured).
Helping her cope is musician Max Bennett Kelly (pictured, with Ella, at the Fallout premiere in April), her boyfriend of three years whom she describes as “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“People are always surprised that I’m British, which is the biggest compliment ever,” she told US talk show host Jimmy Fallon (pictured) earlier this month.
Even today, she struggles with anxiety, depression, mood swings and a “little voice in my head that tells me I’m not good enough.”
Helping her cope is musician Max Bennett Kelly, her boyfriend of three years whom she describes as “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
They live in Los Angeles, where Ella has been since she was 21, an immersion in American life that should ensure she never loses that perfect vocal accent.
