Ella was born to an Eritrean mother from Asmara and an American Air Force officer, who was stationed in Eritrea. When she was still a child, Ella's family relocated to Germany, where they lived in the small town of Kindsbach. There, she attended a local German school. Ella also studied French, while simultaneously continuing Tigrinya and English lessons at home with her mother. Around this time, Ella 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. Ella has guest starred as Agent Deborah Meade on "" 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. One of her most recognizable performances was as Viveca, a model who attempts to seduce Vince, on the HBO hit Entourage and as P Diddy's fiancée Nadine Alcott on '. Ella also starred on the breakout series Parenthood opposite Monica Potter and Peter Krause as well as the ABC's hit show Castle. Thomas has a recurring role on ' and returned to the show in the fall of 2015 as the character Jada Khaled. Ella guest starred in the episode "Skin" of the Karl Urban and Michael Ealy helmed FOX series Almost Human. She will next be seen opposite Zoe Saldana as the author Lorraine Hansberry in the Nina Simone biopic,"Nina", scheduled for release April 22, 2016. Most recently she filmed one of the lead roles in the Hallmark Movie Channelfilm productionPortrait of Love with Francis Fisher as well as recurring on the new HBO seriesBallers alongside Dwayne Johnson and John David Washington. 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 is appearing in the Lexus ES automotive commercials. She recently completed a recurring arc on season 4 of ABC's Mistresses as well as Antoine Fuqua's new series for DirectTV "ICE" in the role of Lala Agabaria. Most recently she starred opposite Kyra Sedgwick in the ABC series Ten DaysIn the Valley as Detective Isabel Knight. In addition she joined the cast of the new CBS series Me, Myself and I as well as guest starring on the CW's Supergirl.
