[1][2] Ellis was born in Melbourne and grew up in rural South Australia in the Murray River town of Mannum where her mother worked as a teacher at the local primary school.

[9] For a few months prior to the 2013 Labor government defeat, Ellis was the Minister for Early Childhood, Childcare and Youth.

[16][17] In 2011, she joined tennis star Lleyton Hewitt as the club's number-one ticket holder, becoming the first woman so honoured.

In October 2008, she was voted Parliament's "sexiest" MP in a poll of federal MPs conducted by The Courier-Mail newspaper.

[21] She agreed to do the shoot to raise awareness of the pressures on women related to body image, and to encourage fashion magazines to promote healthy attitudes toward weight and eating.

[22] On 9 March 2017, Ellis announced that she would step down from shadow cabinet as of the next reshuffle, and leave parliament at the 2019 federal election in order to spend more time with her young family.