British Actors You Should Know: Tom Ellis

If you follow social media, you may have recently seen the trending hashtags #saveLucifer or #pickupLucifer. It was announced earlier this month that the FOX network’s crime fantasy series, Lucifer, was cancelled after its third season (which ended on a cliff hanger, of course). Subsequently, fans, producers and cast members took to Twitter to try and rescue the show from the chopping block.

Leading the pack has been the show’s star, Welsh actor Tom Ellis, who plays the titular Lucifer. He’s been relentlessly campaigning for the show’s revival alongside its enthusiastic devotees. While making an appearance at the London MCM Comic Con this past weekend, the actor announced that discussions are in place to resuscitate the series.

“Conversations have started happening as a result of the noise that you guys have been making, so all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you.”

But before he took on the mantle of the Prince of Darkness, Ellis paid his dues much like any other young actor does. There were brief appearances in movies such as Buffalo Soldiers and Vera Drake, as well as guest spots on TV series like Midsomer Murders, Casualty, Waking the Dead and as Claudio in the Shakespeare Retold version of Much Ado About Nothing.

In 2006, Ellis appeared in 29 episodes of EastEnders. He played Dr. Oliver Cousins, a GP who made an revealing debut by being knocked over and then locked out of his house without a towel close to hand. Oliver later fell in love with single mother Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth) but, in the end, this same relationship led to the inevitable exit of Dr. Cousins' from the long-running British soap.