Due to her theatrical background, the 3'1" Purvis began her career first as an infant, appearing as a background figure in an episode of Look and Read, and as a teenager, began performing stunts to double the dwarf characters in Time Bandits. She subsequently appeared in Return of the Jedi, also with her father, as an Ewok mother. Subsequent credits included Willow, Legend and the UK TV series Raggy Dolls. More recent credits include stunt doubling a child character in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, as an extra in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and a small on-camera role as a cashier in an episode of the BBC series Teachers (with Navin Chowdhry)