Tom Ellis is known to one and all as the lead character of Lucifer in the highly popular television series Lucifer. But apart from being an actor, he is also a husband to the talented screenwriter and showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer. The lovebirds have not only built a stunning life together but have also started professional collaborations. Here’s all you would like to know about Oppenheimer and her relationship with Ellis: career achievements, personal life, and the shared ventures of this talented couple.
Meaghan Oppenheimer’s rise in Hollywood
Early Breakthroughs
Oklahoma-born Meaghan Oppenheimer began her career in Hollywood as a writer for the indie short film Hot Mess in 2010. In due time, she could become a screenwriter and showrunner. Oppenheimer had her big break in the year 2015 when writing the episode for Fear the Walking Dead. The same year saw her writing the script for We Are Your Friends, an indie-drama featuring Zac Efron.
Success of Queen America and Tell Me Lies
In 2018, Oppenheimer created and wrote Queen America, a television series on Facebook Watch starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a former pageant queen. But her strongest work so far has come in the form of the Hulu hit Tell Me Lies, adapted from the novel by Carola Lovering, about two students in a tempestuously passionate relationship. In interviews, Oppenheimer said that the novelist behind the book was completely supportive of her version, which further bolstered her confidence to work on the adaptation.
Relationship with Tom Ellis
Love in the Early Days
Tom Ellis and Meaghan Oppenheimer started dating in 2015. It was a year after Ellis divorced the actress Tamzin Outhwaite. Ellis once openly told his interviewer how he accidentally said the three magical words to Oppenheimer on their second date. He could not conceal his feelings for her, and they soon became inseparable. In 2017, the two got engaged, with Oppenheimer jokingly announcing it on her Instagram, featuring a picture of her ring and the caption: “Does this ring make me look fat?”
The 2019 Wedding
They tied the knot in June of 2019, two years from their engagement. The wedding was star-studded, but most especially with many of Ellis’ co-stars from Lucifer, like Lauren German, Lesley-Ann Brandt, and Aimee Garcia. Not only that, but instead of wedding gifts, they asked their guests to donate something to Planned Parenthood, a definite way of saying one stands for philanthropy.
Parenting and Family Life
Birth of Their Daughter
In November 2023, the couple had a daughter through surrogacy. They called her Dolly Ellis-Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer, making the birth announcement on Instagram, joked that she had waited to go into labor on the picket lines so she’d be free to choose when the SAG-AFTRA strike was over. Nov 2023, for the score book, Teeth gnarled, I walk outside into an America where my lungs belong, he posted following his new baby girl. Dolly is Oppenheimer’s first child, while Ellis has three daughters—Marnie, Florence, and Nora—from previous relationships.
Oppenheimer’s Personal Touch in Tell Me Lies Drawing from Personal Experience: Oppenheimer delves into telling the darker and more toxic side of romantic relationships — a subject she is no stranger to herself. She has candidly shared in many interviews how her personal experiences have been a narrative for the show. She even reflected on having been in a toxic relationship and said it took her years to realize the kind of toxic dynamic she had been living in. With Tell Me Lies, Oppenheimer sought to make a show that related to the audiences who might have lived similar relationships, all raw and unfiltered.
Relatability and Impact
That is meant to be Oppenheimer’s ability to take from the emotionally and psychologically deeper side of toxic relationships that makes this series so relatable to many viewers. She was hoping for the show to raise people’s venal attention to the harmful patterns one might put up with in life. Her honest portrayal of the multidimensionality of relationships was received with much appreciation and helped draw a staunch following for the series.
Collaboration with Tom Ellis
Second Wife — Their Joint Project
That helped lead to Oppenheimer’s success with Tell Me Lies, in turn bringing in another great project, Second Wife. Conceived and written by Oppenheimer, the dark comedy stars Ellis opposite Emma Roberts. The show will follow two people who impulsively get married and then soon find themselves burying secrets from each other. In a first-time professional pairing for the couple, combining the actor-screenwriter duo will make a great match.
Ellis took to Instagram to share his excitement about writing Second Wife with his wife. He called Oppenheimer the “ridiculously talented love of [his] life.” To share in excitement for a project may explain why creative powers in partnerships are so often found with counterparts in life.
Ellis Joins Tell Me Lies
Besides this new collaboration, Ellis was added to Tell Me Lies Season 2, playing the role of a “cold” professor. He playfully added that Oppenheimer did not even have him audition for the part, considering that she had seen it enough to know that he was an actor, and was perfect for the role. That addition really cements their professional synergy and the exciting possibilities of what future collaborations might bring.
Conclusion
Meaghan Oppenheimer is a talented and successful screenwriter and showrunner in Hollywood, and her career is one that goes only upwards. Her marriage to actor Tom Ellis brought joy not only in the private sphere but opened up new perspectives for collaboration. With their collaborative work on projects like Second Wife and Ellis’ role in the series Tell Me Lies, the couple is building a strong creative partnership. As Oppenheimer continues to create engaging stories, her starpower in the entertainment industry will continue to climb, and her relationship with Ellis will most likely serve as a source of strength and support for both of them.
