In a recent interview with NME, Ella Purnell talked about being famous.
“When ‘Fallout’ came out, I was filming in Wales,” the actress said. “I was aware of a change, people recognized me more and I could see my Instagram followers rising (she now has over 1.5million), but I just put my head in the sand.”
She continued, “It can be really strange forgetting that you’re being perceived. If you go out and you’re having a good time with your friends, then someone comes and approaches you, my first thoughts are, ‘How long have you been watching me? Have I been doing something stupid? Have I got food on my face?’… You forget people see you.”
“I’ve grown up in this industry. I’ve grown up, obviously on a quite low scale, somewhat in the spotlight. There isn’t really a filter anymore. I sort of am just a bit of public property,” Purnell added.
Purnell acted in two popular shows, ‘Fallout’ and ‘Yellowjackets,’ that had a lot of gore in the last few years. However, she doesn’t understand how she ended up in those roles. She recently told The Guardian that she doesn’t even like violent shows.
The actress shared, “I can’t do horror films. I don’t really love watching too much gore, or any supernatural things. I’m not even really a big sci-fi person. And I’m not a gamer. So, I don’t know how any of this has happened!”
Purnell also said, “[I] never really planned on becoming an actor. I feel a lot of guilt and impostor syndrome attached to that statement, because I know a lot of people have wanted to be an actor ever since they were kids. And that just wasn’t me.”
Purnell initially wanted to go to university to become a children’s book writer. Instead, she appeared in big projects like ‘Never Let Me Go,’ ‘Maleficent,’ ‘The Legend of Tarzan,’ ‘Kick-Ass 2,’ and ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.’
Her latest show, ‘Fallout,’ started on Prime Video in April. The series was created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, based on a popular video game. In the show, Purnell plays Lucy MacLean in a world after a disaster. She stars with Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins.