Ella Beatty: Broadway Actress and Monster's Lizzie Borden

Ella Beatty is an American actress who has moved quickly from the stage to leading a major streaming drama. She is now best known as Lizzie Borden in Netflix's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, and she has a high-profile film adaptation of The Bell Jar on the way.

Early life and training

Beatty was born on 8 April 2000 in Los Angeles. She is the youngest of four children of the actors Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. Her aunt is the actress Shirley MacLaine.

Despite that family background, she did not work as a child actor. She trained in drama at the Juilliard School and began her professional career in her early twenties, first on television and then in the theatre.

Screen debut in Feud

Her first screen credit was a recurring role in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, the 2024 FX series from Ryan Murphy. It was a supporting part in a large ensemble, but it brought her notice and led to Murphy casting her again later.

Broadway and off-Broadway

In March 2024 Beatty made her Broadway debut in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Appropriate at the Belasco Theatre. She took over the role of River Rayner from Elle Fanning and stayed until the production closed in June 2024.

The cast included Sarah Paulson, who became a close friend. Paulson has said that she and a castmate were convinced after Beatty's audition that she was the right choice for the part.

Ghosts and Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes

She then joined Jack O'Brien's production of Ghosts at Lincoln Center Theater. After that came Hannah Moscovitch's two-hander Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, in which she played Annie opposite Hugh Jackman.

The play was produced by Audible and staged at the Minetta Lane Theatre. It ran in 2025 and returned for a second run in spring 2026, which says something about how well it was received.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

On film, Beatty appeared in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025), the A24 drama starring Rose Byrne. She plays Kate, a supporting role in a film built around a punishing central performance. She is also listed in Sophia Takal's psychological thriller Act One, where she plays Hannah.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

Her biggest role to date is the lead in the fourth season of Netflix's Monster anthology. Beatty plays Lizzie Borden, who was tried and acquitted over the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts.

The series presents Lizzie as a repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family, living in a household marked by ridicule and abuse. Beatty's co-stars include Sarah Paulson, Rebecca Hall and Vicky Krieps.

When the casting was announced in 2025, some commentators pointed out that Beatty was in her mid-twenties and Borden was 32 at the time of the killings. The role is also her first lead on television. She has said her parents offered advice as she prepared.

The Bell Jar and what comes next

Beatty will play Joan in the film adaptation of Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar. Sarah Polley is directing, and Focus Features is behind the project. Billie Eilish plays Esther Greenwood, with Carey Mulligan and Connor Storrie also in the cast. The film is in post-production and has no confirmed release date.

Beatty has said she loved the book growing up and called the casting a dream come true. Joan is a key figure in Esther's story, so the part should give her room to stand out.

Credits at a glance

Why she is one to watch

Beatty's career has so far been built on strong collaborators and demanding material. She has worked with Ryan Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Rose Byrne and Sarah Polley within a few years of her first professional credit.

Her stage experience gives her a solid base, and her first lead role arrived with a great deal of attention. With The Bell Jar still to come, the next few years will show whether she can build a career as distinctive as those of her parents.