Ellis J. Wells (’07 performing arts) grew up in Bristol, England, a city of nearly a half million people that boasts an abundance of parks and green space. Its pastoral landscape is dotted with buildings steeped in history, including medieval churches, ancient castle ruins, and picturesque estates – the perfect seeds to grow a young boy’s imagination.
“As a child, all I wanted was to be a wizard. Then I discovered magic wasn’t real,” Wells said. “I was deeply sad for a little bit of time. Then I decided I would become an actor so I could play a wizard because that’s the closest I’m ever going to get to magic.”
Despite having never been to America, Wells decided to attend college in the United States. He ultimately chose Iowa State University and majored in performing arts. Today, Wells lives north of London and is a sought-after, award-winning actor in the United Kingdom, often landing lead roles in plays, film, and television.
In his own words, Wells explains how Iowa State became his home away from home and helped to shape his life and career.
How does a young man from Bristol, England, end up attending college in Ames, Iowa?
There was a form that about a third of the universities in America all used. About two days before we were sending them all off, my dad came to me and said, “Have you thought of Iowa State University?” And I was like, “No, I haven’t,” but all we had to do was photocopy the form again and send it.
Then I had a very unusual experience with most of the other universities. A large chunk of them sent me a letter back saying that as an international student, I didn’t have a TOEFL grade (TOEFL assesses English language proficiency for university enrollment). They all said that without my TOEFL grade, they’re not looking at my form.
But Iowa State – and this is praiseworthy for Iowa State – you knew I didn’t have GPAs, that I didn’t have a TOEFL. The way you guys handled it was like you’ve done this before, you know how it works, all with openness and understanding. At that point, we started properly researching Iowa State. Then we saw it was the third most beautiful campus in America. The more and more we were looking stuff up, the more excited I was getting.
Even though the happenstance of ending up at Iowa State was bonkers, I couldn’t be happier.
Was there anything about Iowa State that reminded you of England?
I was in Linden Hall, which was beautiful. I think that side of campus with those older dorms seems very old school and “Dead Poets Society.” It was so big and so vast and – this is a positive – it felt like somewhere I could finally get lost. As in, this is my life and I just want to immerse myself in it. Almost everything else in the world doesn’t matter anymore because I’m home and this is where I should be.
What did you enjoy most about the music and theatre department?
The freedom to be creative and the freedom to fail. A lot of [university theatre programs] in America are conservatories, so they have weird rules. If you’re a freshman, you don’t get to be in the play. If you’re a sophomore and you’re really good, you might have a minor role in a play. Juniors get supporting roles and seniors get leads. It’s such an antiquated way of doing it because you haven’t had a chance to fail as a lead, to maximize what you’ve learned. I’ve always said that nothing you do in class – a performance or even an exam – can compete with going on stage with a live audience.
Iowa State does so many plays and they don’t have a weird hierarchy system of who gets what roles. I graduated with a huge resume. So many people graduating from other theatre programs would have only three plays, if that. They would do scenes in a class but that doesn’t compare. So, that is my favorite thing the university gave me is the chance to fail, the chance to do roles and do them badly, and then learn from it.
Is there a class that had an especially profound impact on you?
There’s one class that I cannot praise enough – THTRE 250 (today, it’s THTRE 2500 – Technical Theatre Practicum) where you did stage crew. There are so many technical aspects of a play that you only know and understand if you do crew.
On film sets, for example, actors are always complaining about how long they’ve been waiting [between scenes]. I always have to politely take them aside and be like, “I know you’re tired, I know you’re exhausted, but when you were driven to set, the crew was already here. When you leave and get driven back to the hotel, they will still be on set doing stuff. You are not more tired than them. Stop complaining.” That respect for everyone who makes theatre or film work beyond just the acting came from THTRE 250.
“That is my favorite thing the university gave me is the chance to fail, the chance to do roles and do them badly, and then learn from it.”
What did you do after graduating from Iowa State?
You can go to an American university for all four years as an international student. You can extend your visa but you can only earn money in your chosen field. So, I moved to New York. Because I could only earn money as an actor, all I could do all day was audition.
I was very lucky that I got some plays while I was there. I got on summer stock theatre, which several of my New York friends who had been there for years were very angry at me for doing because they were like, “I’ve tried for years to get on summer stock and you come and do it the first try.” I’d been very well prepared.
I was in New York for a year and then my visa was up, so I had to come back to the UK.
You’ve done a lot of stage acting, but you’ve also done film and some television as well. Do you have a favorite?
Right now, I’m primarily looking at film and TV work. What’s the end goal of being a theatre actor? In this country, it’s to get on the West End (London’s premiere entertainment and theatre district). Nowadays to be on the West End, you have to have a film and TV presence to get the job.
Certainly, my theatre training makes me very liked on film sets because I’m able to do it again and again and again without breaking as you would in theatre rehearsals. So, I love film. You get a lot more leeway. You show up and you’re pretty much going to do the character roughly how you envisioned it. Theatre’s a lot more collaborative. I do love them both equally for very different reasons, and I would never give one up for the other. I think both of them make me a better actor each time.
Are you planning a trip back to Iowa State?
I loved Iowa. I would love to go back but I don’t want to because it’s so perfect in my mind. Iowa State is such happiness that I don’t know if I would want to go back and be like, “Oh, it’s not like that anymore.” You don’t want to ruin that memory. I want to go back and I don’t want to. I might need to wait until 30 years have passed.
Now showing: Ellis J. Wells
Watch some of Ellis J. Wells’ films now on the Amazon Prime United Kingdom streaming service.
1. “Backbencher” (lead role)
2. “Edge” (lead role)
3. “Last Chancers” (lead role)
4. “Zombies of the Third Reich” (supporting role)