Lancashire, England native Amy Nuttall classically trained as a singer. She kick-started her theatrical career when she understudied and played the lead role in a UK tour of Phantom of the Opera; at 17, she was the youngest actress ever to do so. In 2005, she landed a role on the popular British television soap opera Emmerdale Farm. As well as multiple engagements in musical theater, Nuttall has also appeared in the television series Hotel Babylon. Nuttall claims singing as her first love, and in 2005, she recorded an album "Best Days" which was nominated for Album of the Year at the Classical Brit Awards.

Thrilled that her Downton Abbey character, Ethel, was brought back to season 3, Nuttall misses her below-the-stairs costars as Ethel falls on hard times away from the house. “It’s been nice to have my own storyline and it was a completely unexpected arc. But in one respect, it’s a shame being in a different place – out of the house, neither upstairs nor downstairs – because I don’t get to see anyone. Normally there’s a lot of banter and a lot of fun, especially in the downstairs scenes. Instead I was out filming in Beaconsfield, Bampton and Ealing. But we’ve kept in touch.”