Ella Purnell did a great job leading Amazon’s adaptation of the hit video game Fallout, and she’s gearing up to return for its second season. She’s been acting long before this role came along, but did she ever get a chance to attend college between her movie and TV roles?
The role of Lucy MacLean introduced Purnell to a wider audience, but it would be wrong to describe it as her big break. Purnell was still a teen when she made her acting debut in Never Let Me Go, and she went on to appear in films Wildlike and Maleficent and the TV show Yellowjackets.
Purnell switched between several schools throughout her childhood in London, including Bethnal Green Montessori, Forest School, and the City of London School for Girls. She also went to Young Actors Theatre Islington and studied singing, acting, and dancing at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, realizing pretty early on she should pursue a career in a creative field.
Purnell was very open about the fact she struggled in school and faced a lot of anxiety before her exams. These experiences taught her how to pick herself up when she stumbles and had a huge impact on her future, even after she chose not to attend college.
“When everyone else was thinking about what universities they were going to go to, I started to think of acting as a career choice… I looked at the pros and cons of having a regular nine-to-five job as opposed to having mine and it was an absolute no-brainer,” Purnell told Crash.
