Hollywood Rising

Our annual mustknow list of emerging talents we'll all be watching (and obsessing over) this year.

Ella Purnell

There’s a common thread among Ella Purnell’s roles: survival. “I really like thinking about the end of the human rope—the extremities you can push yourself to,” the 27-year-old English actress says. “I love taking characters and either completely destroying them, breaking them down, or building them up.” The latest in Purnell’s growing collection of characters is Lucy MacLean of Fallout, Amazon’s ambitious video game series adaptation. Born generations after a nuclear apocalypse, Lucy is sheltered and unwaveringly positive. She’s “Ned Flanders mixed with Leslie Knope,” Purnell says, “but she could also kill you.” When Lucy’s father is kidnapped, she goes on a solo mission to find him. The atrocities that await her are many—mutated monsters and an undead bounty hunter among them—and Purnell likes it that way. “I really just want to get down and dirty,” she says. “I want to see what’s inside, not just surface level.”—Erica Gonzales

Aaron Moten