Ellie Taylor is an English comedian, television personality, actress, writer, and a recurring guest star actor featured in the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso. She played the character of Flo Collins aka Sassy; best friend of Rebecca Welton, a good friend of Keeley Jones, and a casual lover of the main character Ted Lasso.
History[]
Eleanor Jane Taylor was born on 4 November 1983 in Brentwood, Essex. She studied English literature at the University of York. She was a member of University of York Drama Society and "did three or four plays".
She was spotted by a model agency scout while interning for FHM magazine, and signed with ISIS Models She did campaigns for Matalan, Asda and Pantene. Taylor decided she would rather not be a model, so she began working on corporate events. In her mid-twenties, Taylor began doing stand-up comedy.
"When I was younger it was people like Victoria Wood who I loved"— Ellie Taylor
She was discovered on ITV series Show Me the Funny, an X Factor-style contest for aspiring stand-up comedians. In 2014, she performed her debut show Elliementary at the Laughing Horse as part of the Edinburgh free fringe programme.
In June 2015, she made her debut in the 14th series of BBC Two's Mock the Week.
She is married to reporter Phil Black in London in 2014 and has one daughter.
Career[]
She has a career as a stand-up comedian which considerably outstrips her resumé in scripted drama. In fact, she's been a regular on the UK's extensive comedy panel show circuit. having appeared on seemingly every major television panel show, from 8 Out of 10 Cats to QI to Mock the Week to Strictly Come Dancing.
On scripted TV, she's had recurring or starring roles in some top-rated shows of the 2010s, including Plebs, The Mash Report and Disney UK's The Lodge. She has been a regular on the BBC TV stand-up-comedy programme Live at the Apollo, both as a featured act and as a host.
In 2019, her half-hour stand-up special Cravings was released on Netflix as part of Comedians of the World.
In August 2022, she was revealed as a contestant on the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Taylor and her professional dance partner Johannes Radebe were eliminated in Week 10 after losing the dance off to Fleur East and Vito Coppola.
Ted Lasso[]
Actor and stand up comedian Ellie Taylor said she had 'no idea' what Ted Lasso would be like when she was filming and only realised how good it was when she watched it for the first time. She went along to the audition expecting not to get the role, then even after filming didn't tell anyone she was in it and let it go under the radar.
She told Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time that it was only when everyone started talking about the series that she decided she should watch it all the way through:
"I love it. It's a lovely show. And I'm delighted to be a little tiny part of it. It's a real treat. I still didn't really have a handle on exactly what the show was. And I'd only ever seen my stuff but I didn't know anything else that was going on in the series. When it came out on Apple, no one knew what it was about. And I wasn't sure if I'd done that great, so I thought: 'I just I won't mention it. I won't tell anyone that I'm in it, it's fine. Just let it go under the radar.' And then everyone started watching it, and everyone was talking about it. And then I was like: 'I should probably get Apple TV to have a look at this! And then saw it and was like: 'Oh, it's really good. Oh, it's really good!' I saw my scenes and I thought: 'Oh, I'm okay. Okay, this is good. This is okay!'"
Notes[]
The actress is a good friend of actor Paul Foxcroft who had a minor role as Paul John Pope.
External link[]
- Ellie Taylor at IMDb