Ellis was born and raised in Queens, New York. She graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and later attended New York Institute of Technology. Ellis later moved to Los Angeles for acting career and began appearing in episodes of television shows such as Any Day Now, Men, Women & Dogs, Nikki and V.I.P.. Ellis also was a member of a dance group The Pussycat Dolls. She also played dancers in films Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Gigli (2003), Starsky & Hutch (2004), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Guess Who (2005), Idlewild (2006), Hairspray (2007), 500 Days of Summer (2009), and Iron Man 2 (2010). From 2004 to 2008, Ellis had a recurring role in the Comedy Central comedy series, Reno 911!.
In 2011, Ellis was cast in the leading role of Stacy Lawrence in the BET romantic comedy series, Let's Stay Together. The series was cancelled after four seasons in 2014. Ellis later had starring roles in a number of made-for-television movies, include Somebody's Child (2012), Four of Hearts (2013), and Love the One You're With (2014), as well guest-starred on Bones, Timeless, Training Day, Lucifer and Jane the Virgin. She starred in the 2017 comedy film Another Man Will directed by David E. Talbert, and appeared in the comedy film Daphne & Velma (2018). From 2017 to 2018 she starred as Judy Hayward in the Netflix teen drama series, Greenhouse Academy. From 2019 to 2020, Ellis had a recurring role as Brenda Williams in the Showtime comedy-drama series, Shameless.
In 2021, Ellis was cast as Leah Franklin Dupont in the Fox prime time soap opera, Our Kind of People, replacing LeToya Luckett who had been originally cast in the role. The series was cancelled after one season in 2022. She later starred in the Holiday movies Christmas for Sale (2021), The Christmas Clapback (2022), and The Holiday Stocking (2022).

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