Ella Purnell in Bathing Suit Says "Chips or Fries"

Ella Purnell, star of Yellowjackets, can do action (Army of the Dead), voice work in animation (Arcane), period dramas (Belgravia), basically everything. And she gives good swimsuit looks, too! The actor posed in one today eating a potato snack and captioned it: “Chips or fries you decide.” How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Ella Purnell stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. She Trained Hard

Ella trained for Army of the Dead. “I went to the gym and did boxing lessons with my stepdad, but I’m just not that way inclined. I’ve got the upper-body strength of a spoon and I’m not very coordinated. I’d get told off because if I try to look cool, I’m doing something else weird with my limbs. When I was running, if I’m holding my gun with one hand, I’m doing gun hands with the other [laughs]. We spent time with these two nice ex-army dudes. They taught us how to shoot, move as a team and have each other’s backs,” she told Vogue. (The movie will also be the basis of an upcoming TV series.)

2. She Hits the Gym

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“Working out with mama!,” she once captioned a gym photo. “We know that physical exercise, and aerobic exercise in particular, is very beneficial for maintaining brain health, even in people who are at risk for developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD),” neuropsychologist Aaron Bonner-Jackson, PhD tells the Cleveland Clinic. “You can make a major difference in terms of how your body is functioning and, as a result, how your brain is functioning.”

3. She Reflected During Lockdown

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This is what keps her going through lockdown: “White chocolate and raspberry muffins!,” she told Vogue with a laugh. “I was based in Los Angeles for the majority of lockdown. I was reading through my journal a couple of nights ago, and I was like, ‘Wow!’ I grew up. A lot of stuff went down in my personal life and I had to find hobbies. I’ve been working since I was nine years old. I feel like I was sort of deficient in other parts of my life. My relationships got stronger. I discovered that I love plants, painting and writing poetry. I went camping for a month in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. I learned a lot about myself and overcame some demons,” she told Vogue.

4. She Had Anxiety in the Past

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“I have anxiety and have had depression in the past,” she told the Standard. “When I was 15 or 16 I had a bad experience at school — some issues with other classmates and somebody I was seeing, we don’t need to go into it. I started self-harming and did that for a long time until my mum caught me and I started to learn about it [mental health]. I thought depression was something you could only have if your parents died, or you were really ill and about to jump off the bridge. I certainly didn’t feel comfortable enough to talk about it then. Had this happened to me now I’d feel able to say, ‘Mum, I need to take some time off school,’ or, ‘Mum, I am suffering with this thing.’”

5. She Raises Awareness for Mental Health Issues

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“I still have the scars,” she told the Standard, “and it’s something that I did that I will always regret: it hurt a lot of people around me and it’s on my body forever. It’s something I never felt comfortable talking about before, but I have decided I am going to start working with mental health charities this year. Because through opening up about my own experiences I can start conversations and make other people feel less alone and less guilty.”