Ella Maisy Purvis


Ella Maisy Purvis is an English actress. Purvis, who is herself autistic, is known for her role as an autistic police archivist in the 2025 TV series Patience.
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Early life and education

Ella Maisy Purvis was born in 2003 in South London, to an urban planner mother and a business coach father.
She trained as a classical ballet dancer before pursuing acting as a career. She studied acting at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
She was diagnosed with autism at the age of 17 and has said the diagnosis helped her; with it, life became "a lot easier to navigate because you don’t blame yourself".

Career

Purvis had television roles in Heartstopper and in A Kind of Spark. In 2024, she was nominated for The Breakthrough Award by the Northern Ireland Royal Television Society for her work on A Kind of Spark.
In 2025, she appeared in her first lead role in Channel 4 crime drama Patience, in which she plays a crime-solving neurodivergent police archivist named Patience Evans alongside a detective, Bea Metcalfe. Carol Midgely in The Times said that Purvis does not "overact" the character's condition, "showing it in overt and subtle ways". Purvis herself is autistic and has ADHD, which she was quoted as saying could "bring a level of authenticity to the narrative that would otherwise be lacking, which just makes for a more engaging and meaningful story". The series was renewed for a second season.
Purvis featured in the 2025 reboot of crime drama Bergerac, and has a role in romantic comedy film CC: Emily.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2022HeartstopperGirl 1Series 1; episode 4: "Secret"
2023MalpracticeJosephine PaigeEpisode 2
2023BlueprintCassShort film
2023–2024 A Kind of SparkElinor Fraser / Bonnie BridgesSeries 1 & 2; 19 episodes
2025 PatiencePatience EvansLead role; series 1 & 2
2025BergeracSophie ArmstrongReboot of original series; episode 4
2026MegPost-production