Ella Purnell is an English child actress who has appeared in several feature films being released in 2010 and 2011.

Life and career

She was born in London, England, where she currently lives with her mother. Ella has two younger brothers by her father. She attends City of London School for Girls

City of London School for Girls

City of London School for Girls is a girls' independent school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. It is sister school of the City of London School and the City of London Freemen's School .-History:The school was founded by William Ward in 1894...

 and began Year 9 in September 2010. She also attends weekly classes at Sylvia Young Theatre School

Sylvia Young Theatre School

Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent fee-paying stage school, in Westminster, London, named after its founder and Principal, Sylvia Young.-Outline:...

, studying acting, singing and dance, and was formerly represented by their in-house talent agency, Young 'Uns (now known as Sylvia Young Agency). She is now however represented by MFmanagement.

In 2008, she beat hundreds of other girls for a role in Oliver!

Oliver!

Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....

at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

in London. She was one of only a few girls chosen to appear in the children's ensemble and remained in the show for a year.

Film

Towards the end of her time in Oliver!, she won the role of Young Ruth in Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go (2010 film)

Never Let Me Go is a 2010 British dystopian drama film based on Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Mark Romanek from a screenplay by Alex Garland. Never Let Me Go is set in an alternate history and centers on Kathy, Ruth and Tommy who are portrayed by Carey...

– a feature film based on the acclaimed book by Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro OBE or ; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese–English novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing...

. This was a main role, in which Ella played the younger version of Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...

's character; the script is set for the first half in Hailsham boarding school, where the main characters are children, and in the second half tells of their lives after leaving the school.

After filming this, Ella was cast as Kayleigh in Gustavo Ron's Ways to Live Forever

Ways to Live Forever

Ways to Live Forever is a children's novel by Sally Nicholls, first published in 2008. The author's debut novel, it was written when Nicholls was 23 years old....

, adapted from the book by Sally Nicholls

Sally Nicholls

- Life :Nicholls was born and grew up in Stockton-on-Tees. She attended Great Ayton Friends' School until its closure and subsequently Egglescliffe School until 2001.On finishing school, Nicholls chose to travel around the world...

. She was also cast as Mia in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is a Spanish film director, script writer, and producer. He directed Intacto and 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. His film Esposados was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1996.-Early life:Fresnadillo was born in...

s Intruders

Intruders (film)

Intruders is a four hour CBS miniseries dealing with the subject of alien abduction that was first broadcast in 1992. The miniseries starred Richard Crenna, Daphne Ashbrook and Mare Winningham. It was partially based on ufologist Budd Hopkins' book Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley...

which filmed in the summer of 2010 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

. She plays the daughter of Clive Owen

Clive Owen

Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...

 and is the central character. She was recently named by Screen International

Screen International

Screen International is a multimedia film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by EMAP, a British b2b media company.The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global movie business...

 as one of 10 UK Stars of Tomorrow. Purnell also recently appeared in the BBC HD

BBC HD

BBC HD is a high-definition television network provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...

 Film Short Candy in June 2011.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2010	Never Let Me Go Never Let Me Go (2010 film) Never Let Me Go is a 2010 British dystopian drama film based on Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Mark Romanek from a screenplay by Alex Garland. Never Let Me Go is set in an alternate history and centers on Kathy, Ruth and Tommy who are portrayed by Carey...	Young Ruth
	Ways to Live Forever Ways to Live Forever (film) Ways to Live Forever is a drama film by director Gustavo Ron based on the award winning novel of the same name written by Sally Nicholls. The film stars Robbie Kay, Alex Etel, Ben Chaplin, Emilia Fox and Greta Scacchi. The film is produced by Life&Soul Productions, El Capitan Pictures and Formato...	Kayleigh
2011	Intruders Intruders (film) Intruders is a four hour CBS miniseries dealing with the subject of alien abduction that was first broadcast in 1992. The miniseries starred Richard Crenna, Daphne Ashbrook and Mare Winningham. It was partially based on ufologist Budd Hopkins' book Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley...	Mia	post-production

External links