Ella Rumpf was born in Paris and grew up in Zurich, Switzerland. Her father is a psychotherapist and her mother a lecturer. Rumpf went to the Steiner school and had her first taste of acting by winning the lead role in Romeo and Juliet at 14. She appeared in her debut film at age 16 called Summer Outside in 2011 directed by Friederike Jehn.
Rumpf won the role of Ali in the multi-award-winning feature film War (Chrieg), by Simon Jaquemet in 2014 and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Swiss Film Awards. She shaved her head for the role. She attended the Giles Foreman Center for Acting in London from 2013–2015 after completing her studies at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in 2013.
Ella Rumpf starred alongside Garance Marillier in Raw (2016). In 2017, she played the lead role in Tiger Girl and a supporting role in The Divine Order (Die göttliche Ordnung).
