by Cecilia Farmer

Big, brown eyes. There are few actresses who can pull a viewer in with her gaze alone, but it is the first thing you notice about Ella Purnell in all her films. There’s a child-like innocence that comes through her face which is often juxtaposed with serious, dramatic turns in such notable films as Ways to Live Forever, Maleficent, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It doesn’t seem altogether long ago she was charming audiences with her alluring, somber performances as a young child actress, but Ms. Purnell is taking on more mature, coming-of-age roles.

This year, Ella Purnell is gathering national attention on the new Starz series Sweetbitter, a show about a naïve, young woman, Tess, who enters New York’s hedonistic, fast-paced restaurant scene as a waitress, unprepared for the behind-the-scenes intrigue and sexual politics. In an interview with Variety, Purnell shared that she identified with Tess because of her transition from child to adult, particularly in the past two years. She feels a duty to faithfully represent a coming-of-age story for a female protagonist that doesn’t involve a love story, “Everything seems to be about love when it comes to coming of age, and it’s not. . . . realizing that you’re an adult and you’re breaking authority, or learning how to trust yourself rather than [being] the adaptive child who does what she’s told; that’s much more of an interesting story to watch.”

We look forward to new developments in Ms. Purnell’s career as she continues to grow in to a seasoned actress and an inspiration for young woman – Happy 22^nd birthday! 

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Back in 2010, actors Robbie Kay and Ella Purnell became more visible to American audiences with the release of the film Ways to Live Forever, but now, they are both well-established actors with their careers expanding further than anyone could ever dream for them!

Since Ways to Live Forever, Robbie Kay has worked on many projects on the big screens and on television. Robbie was the Cabin Boy in 2011 for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, assisting Captain Jack Sparrow find the fountain of youth. He then moved on to the 2013 release of Rita, a television movie about a private-school teacher struggling to raise her three children, along with becoming Peter Pan on Freeform’s (formerly ABC Family) hit television series Once Upon a Time. Playing Rumplestiltskin's father in the series along with being the main antagonist for nearly an entire season, Kay has taken the hearts of many across America. If being the main antagonist on Once Upon a Time wasn’t enough for Kay, he soon became the main protagonist in Heroes Reborn, playing Tommy Clark, the son of Claire from the beloved Heroes series. The spinoff of Heroes showcased Kay learning to use his powers and attempting to save the world with his character’s sister.

Although most of his appearances on television are coming to an end in early 2016, he has a new film coming out this year called Cold Moon where he plays Ben Redfield. Not much is known about the film currently, but with an all-star cast including Josh Stewart, Candy Clark, Frank Whaley, and Christopher Lloyd alongside with Robbie Kay, the film is sure to be a success!

Ella Purnell, unlike Robbie, started her career in 2010 with Ways to Live Forever and Never Let Me Go playing Kaleigh and Young Ruth, respectively. Her career slowly started with these two films as she continued her career with Candy, a short, and Intruders in 2011. It wasn’t until 2013 where she made her appearance in Kick-Ass 2, as Dolce, when her career started to pick up. After that appearance, she took a turn and played the teenage Maleficent in Disney’s Maleficent in 2014, the tragic backstory of the “evil” queen. She ended her 2014 year as the main lead in Wildlike, a drama about a teenage girl running away from home. Entering the 2015 year, Ella starred in Cyberbully, a television movie about a girl being blackmailed into doing an anonymous hacker’s bidding. Her next project was no surprise after her appearance in Disney’s Maleficent, as she starred in The Legend of Tarzan, as young Jane alongside with Ways to Live Forever’s Ben Chaplin, who played Robbie Kay’s father in the film. However, the 2016 year is not over for Purnell as she has four featured films coming up in late 2016 - early 2017.

The most anticipated film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children showcases Ella as Emma Bloom. Her other three films that do not have a release date yet are Access All Areas, Churchill, and The Journey is the Destination. Not much is known about these three films either, but after Miss Peregine’s, Ella’s expected to be a big star in the film industry!

Congratulations to the Ways to Live Forever stars; they both have gone a long way since 2010, when the film was first released in the United States. Six years later and they have established their names into films, shorts, and television. We can’t wait to see how far they will go.

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This year’s Richmond International Film Festival featured Ella Purnell’s new film Wildlike on the homepage and it was declared Best Feature Film of the festival. The film follows a troubled teen girl, Mackenzie (Ella Purnell), who was sent to live with her inappropriate uncle (Brian Geraghty) by her unstable mother. Rene Bartlett (Greenwood) is a hiker wanting nothing more than to be alone; however, an unlikely friendship bonds the girl and the hiker as they both explore Alaska’s beautiful terrain. While traveling together, their friendship helps them heal their past. The film is a multi award-winner, having also garnered six Best Narrative awards and two awards for Best Director.

Justin Lowe from The Hollywood Reporter stated, “By turns both tough and vulnerable, [Purnell] conveys Mackenzie’s inner turmoil and frequent desperation with both empathy and economy, skirting the ever-present pitfalls of over-emoting.” It’s no surprise that Purnell is a rising star in the movie business.

Ella Purnell has played minor roles in other major films and they have garnered several awards and nominations, including the recent Maleficent, where she played the evil queen from Sleeping Beauty as a teenager. The movie won Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film at the International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA). Maleficent was also nominated for Best Achievement in Costume Design at the Academy Awards and Best Feature Film at BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts). In Ways To Live Forever, distributed by World Wide Motion Pictures, a film about a young boy named Sam who is discovering and searching for information about his battle with leukemia. Kayleigh (Purnell), Sam’s love interest, helps him complete items on his bucket list off and find the answers he looks for. The film won Best Picture at the Toledo Film Festival and Audience Award at the Heartland Film Festival. If these awards and nominations continue for Purnell, it will undoubtedly help her film career and we’ll likely see her more on the big screen.

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June 11, 2014 -  Ella Purnell graced the red carpet for the UK premiere of Walking on Sunshine at Vue West End in London. She turned heads in a beautiful aqua blue mini dress. With her newfound fame as a younger version of the titular character of the summer hit Maleficent, the press is keeping a close eye on her trendy fashion statements. Fans can see her edgy taste on style featured in V Magazine’s summer issue.

The rising star nonchalantly addressed her style choices via Twitter stating, “(I've) never really been into fashion... I like individual pieces of clothing. I don't religiously buy from certain designers or certain high street shops. I like to branch out.”

Fans are excited to see what Ella plans to step onto the red carpet wearing next. You can catch her, opposite Robbie Kay, in World Wide Motion Picture Corporation’s Ways To Live Forever, a feature film about a 12-year-old boy, Sam, experiencing an exciting life as a teenager while battling leukemia.

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