Ellise Chappell (born 21 March 1992) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Morwenna Chynoweth in ''Poldark'' and as Jennifer Strange in ''The Last Dragonslayer''.

Early life and education

Chappell was born and raised in rural

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, her mother was an artist, her father runs a creative agency, while her elder brother went on to be a video choreographer. She was educated at

The King's High School for Girls The King's High School (also called simply ''King's High'' or KHS) is an independent day school for girls on the Banbury Road, Warwick, England. One of its main feeder schools is Warwick Preparatory School, which takes girls from the ages of 3 ...

, a private school for girls in Warwick. After completing her time at school she applied for

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

and

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

; however, she was unsuccessful in the applications. Instead Chappell studied English literature at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, before deciding to switch to studying drama at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

, where she graduated in 2014. She took a nine-month intensive course on acting, before moving to London, where she joined the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and registered charity in London. Its aim is to develop and nurture young people through creative arts and theatrical productions. Founded in 1956 as the world's first youth th ...

and performed in the West End.

Career

Chappell was part of the National Youth Theatre REP Company in 2015, where she starred in ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...

'' by

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

, ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and ''Consensual'' by Evan Placey. She then landed the role of Jennifer Strange in the 2016 Sky TV series adaptation of ''

The Last Dragonslayer ''The Last Dragonslayer'' is a young adult fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde. It is set in an alternative world in which magic is real, but has become weakened and is also being replaced by modern technology. The setting is almost like modern Brit ...

'', before starring as Wendy Roberts in Anthony Horowitz's

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

series '' New Blood.'' Chappell has also been a regular in the BBC series ''

Poldark ''Poldark'' is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, '' Ross Poldark'', was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted twice fo ...

'' since its third season, playing Morwenna Chynoweth. She plays Lucy in the 2019 film '' Yesterday,'' and plays Mona in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Young Wallander ''Young Wallander'' is a crime drama streaming television series, based on Henning Mankell's fictional Inspector Kurt Wallander. The series premiered on Netflix on 3 September 2020. Star Adam Pålsson explained that the pre-imagining (i.e., ''Yo ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Games

References

External links

Agent profile website page

Official Instagram
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Ellise Living people 1992 births 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Warwickshire Alumni of the University of Sheffield Alumni of the University of Exeter English film actresses English television actresses National Youth Theatre members People educated at The King's High School for Girls