So who is that star of the Fallout Amazon drama braving a post

Release time：2024-05-21 13:39:50 Source：International Index news portal

As the star of hit Amazon drama Fallout, Ella Purnell is wowing viewers as an adventurous young woman full of 'all-American can-do spirit' braving the post-apocalyptic Californian wasteland.

But fans of the sci-fi show have been stunned to discover the actress is not actually from the States – but London's East End.

The 27-year-old displays such a flawless US accent on the series – as she has in previous shows such as the plane-crash drama Yellowjackets – that Americans were convinced she was one of their own.

'People always get surprised that I'm British which is the highest 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 kept doing it off set. I thought that's what real actors do, and then my co-star must have believed I was actually American.

As the star of hit Amazon drama Fallout, Ella Purnell (pictured, in Fallout) is wowing viewers as an adventurous young woman full of 'all-American can-do spirit' braving the post-apocalyptic Californian wasteland

But fans of the sci-fi show have been stunned to discover the actress is not actually from the States – but London's East End (pictured: Ella in Fallout)

The 27-year-old displays such a flawless US accent on the series – as she has in previous shows such as the plane-crash drama Yellowjackets – that Americans were convinced she was one of their own (pictured: Ella in Yellowjackets)

'Then one day I dropped it. I was tired, I went into my British accent and he didn't believe I was English. He was like 'stop doing this character, you're freaking me out'. By the end I was making him cups of tea, listing the Kings and Queens of England... like, how do I prove it to you?'

READ MORE: Fallout TV series earns heaps of praise from fans just days after its debut on Prime Video... with some demanding Season 2 immediately 

Ella was actually born in Whitechapel to Suzy, a yoga teacher, and, Simon, a Scottish businessman, and raised in nearby Bethnal Green. Her parents split when she was two and mum subsequently married Jon Squirrell, owner of the exclusive Vault Gym in trendy Shoreditch.

Ella took acting classes from the age of nine at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and she got her big break in 2008, aged 12, when she beat hundreds of other girls for a role in West End musical Oliver!

Acting helped 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 the p*** out of my accent so I started to talk posher,' she said. 'I learned survival skills pretty quickly.'

All the while her career was going from strength to strength and has included 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 has not 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 that I will always regret, but by opening up about my own experiences I can start conversations and make other people feel less guilty.'

All the while her career was going from strength to strength and has included Julian Fellowes' ITV period drama Belgravia, in which she played Lady Maria Grey (pictured)

Helping her cope is musician Max Bennett Kelly (pictured, with Ella, at the Fallout premiere in April), her boyfriend of three years who she describes as 'the best thing that ever happened to me'

'People always get surprised that I'm British which is the highest 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 who she describes as 'the best thing that ever happened to me'.

They live in Los Angeles, where Ella has been since the age of 21 – an immersion into American life that should ensure she never loses that vowel-perfect accent.

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