Winner of 'Strictly Come Dancing' Season 19

Rose Ayling Ellis | Biography

Cast of British Soap Opera 'EastEnders'

• By Anuska
• Original : December 27, 2021

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Rose Lucinda Ayling-Ellis is a British actress well known for her role in the BBC television series EastEnders as Frankie Lewis.

Who is Rose Ayling Ellis?

Rose Ayling Ellis is an actress. She has been deaf since birth and uses British Sign Language. In 2021, she made history as the first deaf participant on Strictly Come Dancing after winning the nineteenth season with professional Giovanni Pernice.

Ellis discovered her passion for acting at a young age while she was at a filming event led by the National Deaf Children’s Society. During the event, she met the film director Ted Evans and was later cast in his award-winning short film, The End in 2011. 

In 2017, Ellis landed a role in the television series Casualty as Bianca Sinclair. Two years later, she appeared in the mini-series Summer of Rockets. Then in 2020, she landed her most prominent role as Frankie lewis in the British soap opera EastEnders.

Age & Early Bio 

Rose Ayling Ellis was born on 17 November 1994 on the South-East Coast. She is 27 years old as of 2021.

Education was always difficult for Ellis with the limited resources she had. At her school, there were only a handful of deaf people. Though she was not bullied, she had to fight severely for her education. The school just had three note-takers and there were no interpreters available at all times. Her mother fought to make sure Rose had a note taker and interpreter. 

Later, in 2017, she enrolled at the University of Reading and completed the first course. This helped her land a job as the advocacy officer at RNID. RNID is an organization that campaigns to remove barriers for the deaf community. 

Parents 

Ellis’ family was involved with the deaf community from an early age as they wanted to understand their daughter better. Consequently, her mother also learned sign language. In an interview with Guardian, she mentioned her parents were supportive. 

However, she often wished for a deaf brother or sister growing up, but still felt lucky to have her deaf friends and other deaf people around her. 

After her parents got divorced, she started living with her mom. Her mother then enrolled in different dance classes, and acting lessons, always encouraging Ellis to carry forward.

'Strictly Come Dancing'

Ellis made history when she won the reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing in 2021. The 2021 article by Guardian defined it as a landmark moment for the deaf community. Initially, she mentioned feeling unprepared for the impact she would have, but it was found that many people were inspired. 

In the show, she was partnered up with Giovanni Pernice. She defeated the Great British Bake Off star, John Whaite, and his partner, Johannes Radebe. She mentioned feeling grateful to her teacher and was glad to have a teacher like him. She thanked him for helping her believe in herself. 

After winning the show, Ellis talked about her experience in the show. She mentioned how much she enjoyed it and her love for the ballroom but feared Latin dance. The online searches for British sign languages courses also went up by 300% after she won the show. Likewise, a training company mentioned to BBC that the number of people enrolling in such courses went up by 2000%. 

Deaf

In a December 2021 interview with Guardian, Ellis said that she was born profoundly deaf, so she cannot hear anything. Her parents noticed it when she was two and half years old and not responding to any sound. Initially, the doctors assumed she had a learning disability and were reluctant to give her a hearing test. Her parents protested, and she was eventually diagnosed, which gave her hearing aids. 

Boyfriend 

Rose Ayling Ellis is in a long-term relationship with Samuel Arnold. The couple has been together for nearly 7 years but is rarely seen together in public. Arnold, like his girlfriend, is also deaf. The pair have attempted to put their relationship out of the spotlight, but Arnold has visited the studio audience several times to meet her. 

While Ellis was competing in Strictly Coming Dancing, she made headlines with romance rumors with her instructor, Giovanni. However, the rumors were debunked when her boyfriend turned up at the audience studio and took her out on her 27th birthday.