Ella Thomas

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title: "Ella Thomas" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-television-actresses", "american-film-actresses", "living-people", "people-from-asmara", "eritrean-emigrants-to-the-united-states", "american-people-of-eritrean-descent", "people-from-kaiserslautern-(district)", "21st-century-american-women", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)"] description: "Eritrean American actress" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Thomas" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Eritrean American actress ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
image	Actress Ella A. Thomas.jpg
caption	Ella Thomas in 2013
name	Ella Thomas
occupation	Actress, model, producer
years active	2006–present
birth_date
birth_place	Asmara, Eritrea Province
spouse	Ryan Krause
website
::

| image = Actress Ella A. Thomas.jpg | caption = Ella Thomas in 2013 | name = Ella Thomas | occupation = Actress, model, producer | years active = 2006–present | birth_date = | birth_place = Asmara, Eritrea Province | spouse = Ryan Krause| children = 1 | website =

Ella Thomas is an Eritrean American actress, model and producer.

Early life and education

Ella Thomas was born to an Eritrean mother from Asmara and an American Air Force officer, who was stationed in the Province of Eritrea. When she was still a child, Thomas' family relocated to Germany, where they lived in the small town of Kindsbach. There, she attended a local German school. Thomas also studied French, while simultaneously continuing Tigrinya and English lessons at home with her mother. Around this time, Thomas first developed an appreciation for the performing arts, and began taking part in local school and theater productions. She likewise would periodically return home to Asmara to visit relatives.

Career

Thomas has guest starred as Agent Deborah Meade on CSI: NY and played one of the lead characters, Anna Roberts, in The Storm miniseries on NBC. In the fall 2009, she appeared opposite Bruce Willis in the Touchstone/Disney sci-fi thriller Surrogates, which opened September 25, 2009.

She appeared as the model Viveca on the HBO series Entourage and as P Diddy's fiancée Nadine Alcott on CSI: Miami.

Thomas also starred on the series Parenthood, as well as the ABC's show Castle.

Thomas had a recurring role on NCIS: Los Angeles as the character Jada Khaled. Thomas also guest starred in the episode "Skin" of the Karl Urban and Michael Ealy helmed FOX series Almost Human. She was seen opposite Zoe Saldaña as the author Lorraine Hansberry in the Nina Simone biopic, Nina.

In January of 2022 she was the co-lead roles in the Tubi original Unborn as well as recurring on the newly released to Netflix Ballers alongside Dwayne Johnson and John David Washington which aired originally aired on HBO.

Ella has also been featured in editorial spreads for American Vogue and Glamour and ELLE and she has also appeared in print ads for companies such as Gap, Tiffany & Co., and* Levi's* and appeared in the Lexus ES automotive commercials. She completed a recurring arc on season 4 of ABC's Mistresses as well as Antoine Fuqua's series for DirectTV Ice in the role of Lala Agabaria. She starred opposite Kyra Sedgwick in the ABC series Ten Days in the Valley as Detective Isabel Knight and appeared in the CBS series Me, Myself & I. She has also guest starred on Supergirl and The Detour. Next she will appear opposite Garrett Hedlund in Liongate's Desperation Road as well as Searchlight's Nightbitch starring Amy Adams. Nightbitch is slated to debut at TIFF with a wide theatrical release Dec. 6, 2024.

Personal life

As of 2024, she lives in Los Angeles. She is active with the Eritrean Youth Community and has served on the board of Eritrean Diaspora Network for two years.

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Choker	Godiva
2006	All In	Restaurant Waitress
2009	Surrogates	Lisa
2010	Napoleonic	Josephine Moliet	Short
2014	Borderclash	Celia Ricodonna	Short
2015	Daniel and the Lion's Den	Ellen Robbins	Short
2016	Nina	Lorraine Hansberry
2016	A Boy Called Po	Clarissa Evans
2017	The Queen of Hollywood Blvd.	Josie
2023	Desperation Road	Sarah Magee
2024	Nightbitch	Naya
2024	Depth of Field	Beth
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Shark	Call Girl #1	Episode: "Dial M for Monica"
2006	7th Heaven	Ethiopian Woman	Episode: "Christmas!"
2006	Misconceptions	Actress	Episode: "Bad Guy's Day Off"
2007	Ugly Betty	Striking Amazon	Episode: "I'm Coming Out"
2007	Las Vegas	Julia Thomas	Episode: "Junk in the Trunk"
2007	How I Met Your Mother	Girl #1	Episode: "Moving Day"
2007	Point of Entry	Monique	TV film
2008	NCIS	Heidi	Episode: "Recoil"
2008	Don King Presents: Prizefighter	Tabetha	Video game
2008	Polizeiruf 110	Janina	Episode: "Rosis Baby"
2008	Entourage	Viveca	Episode: "Gotta Look Up to Get Down"
2009	CSI: Miami	Nadine Alcott	Episode: "Sink or Swim"
2009	**	Anna Roberts	TV miniseries
2009	CSI: NY	FBI Agent Deborah Meade	Episode: "Death House"
2010	Parenthood	Lisa Genatasio	Episode: "Namaste No More"
2010	Castle	Natasha Piper	Episode: "Overkill"
2011	All My Children	Diana Holden	Recurring role
2011–12,
2015–16	NCIS: Los Angeles	Jada Khaled	Recurring role (seasons 3 & 7)
2013	Almost Human	Vanessa	Episode: "Skin"
2014	Bones	Lyla Thomas	Episode: "The Drama in the Queen"
2015	Portrait of Love	Julia Robbins	TV film
2015	Ballers	Kara Cooley	Episodes: "Move the Chains", "Everything Is Everything"
2016	Mistresses	Jackie	Recurring role (season 4)
2016–17	Ice	Lala Agabaria	Main role (season 1)
2017	Me, Myself & I	Jasmine	Episode: "Pilot"
2017	Ten Days in the Valley	Isabel Knight	Recurring role
2018	Supergirl	Tormock	Episode: "Fort Rozz"
2019	**	Skye	Episode: "The Entertainer"
2020	Quarantine	Willa	Series regular
2022	9-1-1	Willow	Episode: "Cursed"
::

Other works

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Notes
2012	**	Executive producer, costume designer
2013–14	Top Flight Security	Executive producer, costume designer (11 episodes)
2015	Daniel and the Lion's Den	Producer, writer
::

References

References

1. (October 4, 2023). "Ep. 15 | Parenthood W/ Ella Thomas & Ryan Krause - Everything's Okay (podcast)".
2. "Ella Thomas". Movie Mire.
3. "TV Shows".
4. (April 21, 2016). "Paramount Press Express | THE TEAM SEARCHES FOR JADA, THE WOMAN SAM LEAD TO ASYLUM IN THE UNITED STATES FOUR YEARS AGO, AFTER SHE GOES MISSING, ON a REBROADCAST OF "NCIS: LOS ANGELES," SATURDAY, MAY 14".
5. (April 18, 2016). "Film Review: Zoe Saldana in 'Nina'".
6. "2016 Lexus ES TV Spot, 'A New Point of View'".
7. Petski, Denise. (April 15, 2016). "'Mistresses' Casts Ella Thomas; Christopher J. Hanke Joins 'Devious Maids'".
8. Petski, Denise. (August 17, 2016). "'Ice': Antoine Fuqua's Audience Drama Series Adds Ella Thomas, Rey Gallegos & Chloe East".
9. Petski, Denise. (January 27, 2017). "'Ten Days In The Valley': Ella Thomas, Josh Randall, Eight More Round Out Cast".
10. Complex, Valerie. (October 27, 2022). "Ella Thomas Joins Cast Of Nadine Crocker's 'Desperation Road'".
11. Chitwood, Adam. (June 18, 2024). "Toronto Lineup: Amy Adams' 'Nightbitch,' Elton John Doc and 'The Wild Robot' Among First Films Slated for TIFF".
12. "BIO".
13. "Africa's 54: Eritrea: Africa's Jewel on Apple Podcasts".

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