Ella Maisy Purvis (born June 2, 2003) 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.
Ella Maisy Purvis was born on June 2, 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 donâÂÂt blame yourself".
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 (Laura Fraser). 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 Finding Emily.