
Ella A. Thomas
Acting
Biography
Ella A. Thomas is an international dramatic actress who commands the screen with a statuesque elegance and a magnetic, multi-layered depth. Known for bringing a cosmopolitan sophistication to high-stakes narratives, she has established a distinguished profile across prestige studio features, independent cinema, and premium cable dramas.On the big screen, Thomas’s commanding presence anchors high-profile, auteur-driven projects. She appeared opposite Amy Adams in Marielle Heller’s Searchlight Pictures feature Nightbitch, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her film footprint also includes starring as Sarah Magee opposite Garrett Hedlund in the Lionsgate thriller Desperation Road, portraying the iconic author and playwright Lorraine Hansberry in the biopic Nina alongside Zoe Saldaña, and appearing in the Touchstone/Disney sci-fi thriller Surrogates opposite Bruce Willis. Thomas’s television career is defined by recurring, high-impact roles in premium spaces. She delivered a standout recurring arc as Kara Cooley on HBO’s hit series Ballers opposite Dwayne Johnson, and brought sharp dramatic tension to Antoine Fuqua’s high-octane series Ice as Lala Agabaria. Her prominent multi-episode and recurring credits also include portraying Detective Isabel Knight alongside Kyra Sedgwick in ABC’s Ten Days in the Valley, a key recurring arc on Season 4 of ABC’s Mistresses, and her memorable role as Jada Khaled on CBS’s NCIS: Los Angeles. Born in Asmara, Eritrea, to an Eritrean mother and an American Air Force officer, Thomas’s upbringing across Germany and the United States gifted her with an innate cultural fluidity and a deep global perspective. Fluent in both English and German, she seamlessly translates this worldly background into her roles, making her an elite asset for the expanding landscape of international co-productions and prestige dramatic storytelling.
Known For

From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, a team of special agents investigates any crime that has any connection to Navy and Marine Corps personnel, regardless of rank or position.
NCIS

Dr. Temperance Brennan and her colleagues at the Jeffersonian's Medico-Legal Lab assist Special Agent Seeley Booth with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard identification methods are useless.
Bones

The show follows Crime Scene Investigators working for the Miami-Dade Police Department as they use physical evidence, similar to their Las Vegas counterparts, to solve grisly murders. The series mixes deduction, gritty subject matter, and character-driven drama in the same vein as the original series in the CSI franchise, except that the Miami CSIs are cops first, scientists second.
CSI: Miami

After a serial killer imitates the plots of his novels, successful mystery novelist Richard "Rick" Castle receives permission from the Mayor of New York City to tag along with an NYPD homicide investigation team for research purposes.
Castle

Explore the high-pressure experiences of police officers, paramedics and firefighters who are thrust into the most frightening, shocking and heart-stopping situations. These emergency responders must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in their own lives.
9-1-1

The exploits of the Los Angeles–based Office of Special Projects (OSP), an elite division of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that specializes in undercover assignments.
NCIS: Los Angeles

A father recounts to his children - through a series of flashbacks - the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.
How I Met Your Mother

Twenty-four-year-old Kara Zor-El, who was taken in by the Danvers family when she was 13 after being sent away from Krypton, must learn to embrace her powers after previously hiding them. The Danvers teach her to be careful with her powers, until she has to reveal them during an unexpected disaster, setting her on her journey of heroism.
Supergirl

Film star Vince Chase navigates the vapid terrain of Los Angeles with a close circle of friends and his trusty agent.
Entourage

Polizeiruf 110 is a long-running German language detective television series. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic Republic, and after the dissolution of Fernsehen der DDR the series was picked up by ARD. It was originally created as a counterpart to the West German series Tatort, and quickly became a public favorite.
Polizeiruf 110

The trials and tribulations of the very large, colorful and imperfect Braverman family.
Parenthood

Ed Deline is a strict ex-CIA officer who went from being Head of Security to becoming President of Operations of the Montecito, whose job is to run the day-to-day operations of the casino. Following his departure, former Marine Danny McCoy, Ed's former protégé, becomes the Montecito's new President of Operations.
Las Vegas

Wannabe writer Betty Suarez is a plain girl from Queens, who is smart, hardworking and savvy but lacks a fashionable sense of style. When publishing mogul Bradford Meade puts his son Daniel in charge of Mode magazine, he hires Betty to be Daniel's new assistant -- mostly because he knows that she may be the only woman in Manhattan with whom the younger man won't sleep.
Ugly Betty

Notorious Los Angeles defense attorney Sebastian Stark becomes disillusioned with his career after his successful defense of a wife-abuser results in the wife's death. After more than a month trying to come to grips with his situation, he is invited by the Los Angeles district attorney to become a public prosecutor so he can apply his unorthodox-but-effective talents to putting guilty people away instead of putting them back on the street.
Shark

Reverend Eric Camden and his wife Annie have always had their hands full caring for seven children, not to mention the friends, sweethearts and spouses that continually come and go in the Camden household.
7th Heaven

Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football.
Ballers

A diamond dealer navigates the culturally diverse and treacherous world of the diamond business.
Ice

Romesh Ranganathan takes charge of the back-stabbing big money game show. Can the contestants create a chain of answers and avoid the boot?
The Weakest Link

The year is 2048. By mandate, every cop must partner with a robot. Detective John Kennex returns to work after waking up from a 17-month coma. As he adjusts to working with his new partner, Dorian, a discontinued android with unexpected emotional responses, John also must learn to get along with his new colleagues.
Almost Human

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.