Ella Purnell shares her acting evolution.
Actor Ella Purnell grew up too fast: "You shouldn't really have to ask yourself about your career and your taxes when you’re 15," jokes the 28-year-old Brit. She landed her first film at just 13, playing the young Keira Knightley in the sci-fi "Never Let Me Go." From there, Purnell quickly gained recognition as the child star who could pull off action-packed features in "Kick-Ass 2" or enchant the screen with roles with fantasy films "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children." But it wasn’t until her 20s that she truly hit her stride, breaking into television with shows like suspense-filled series "Yellowjackets."
Actor Ella Purnell grew up too fast: "You shouldn't really have to ask yourself about your career and your taxes when you’re 15," jokes the 28-year-old Brit. She landed her first film at just 13, playing the young Keira Knightley in the sci-fi "Never Let Me Go." From there, Purnell quickly gained recognition as the child star who could pull off action-packed features in "Kick-Ass 2" or enchant the screen with roles with fantasy films "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children." But it wasn’t until her 20s that she truly hit her stride, breaking into television with shows like suspense-filled series "Yellowjackets."
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I know for a lot of people that transition from like being a child actor to an adult actor can be difficult.
00:06I guess, was there ever a moment where that flipped for you or a mindset that had to change there?
00:10Yeah, so many. It is, it's really, really tough, like giving a child that much responsibility and there's a lot of pressure and you don't have the emotional intelligence or the tools to deal with it necessarily.
00:24Like there's no handbook on how to do that. And we just don't have the support in place for young people in that way.
00:30There's a thousand times that I had to sort of question if I wanted to even be an actor and what kind of actor I wanted to be.
00:37What movies do I like making? Do I want to do movies or TV? Who do I want to be like?
00:40You know, there's so many questions you ask yourself as a teenager to do with your identity anyway.
00:45You know, you shouldn't really have to ask yourself about your career and your taxes when you're 15.
00:50But, you know, it's just kind of, it's just a different way of living, really.
00:54I've fallen in and out of love with my job a thousand times.
00:57It wasn't really until my early 20s, actually, that I redefined my profession, you know, decided to do it in my own terms, you know, really thought about who I liked and what kind of career I wanted.
01:12And really, that ties into, like, who are you and how do you want to present yourself to the world, but just on a slightly more intense scale?
01:21Well, I mean, I was wondering, as I've already mentioned this before, but how close were you actually to not moving forward?
01:28I mean, like, it seems like there was a moment there where you thought about going to university and, like, kind of taking up something else.
01:34But, like, was it, how close was it?
01:36I mean, it seems now, obviously, with the success, you've had a crazy thing to think about, but.
01:40I mean, I'm still, I'm still there.
01:42You know, I'm still, like, every other day, like, maybe I want to be a florist.
01:44I don't know.
01:45I'm not, I'm not convinced that we're always just supposed to sort of just do one thing in life.
01:51I definitely, I wanted to go to university.
01:53I wanted to write.
01:54I wanted to be a teacher.
01:55And I did do all of those things.
01:56You know, when I was a teenager, I, when I wasn't acting, I worked in a pub, I worked in a coffee shop, I worked in a restaurant, I worked as a babysitter and a tutor and did kind of try all of these different things.
02:08At one point, I was like, I'm going to be a tap dancer.
02:10You know, I do get to, and that's the thing I love about acting is you kind of do get to play in those fields.
02:14You know, I can shadow people in professions that I never would have dreamt of doing.
02:18I can sort of research and throw myself into different time periods and genres and sort of skills and hobbies and things that you would, you know, never really get the chance to pursue and definitely not pursue in the name of work.
02:30But I'm still, I love what I do.
02:33I'm not convinced I'm only going to do that forever.
02:36You know, I love directing and writing and producing and trying all of these different things.
02:39I'd love to teach one day.
02:41Still want to be a florist.