Imogen Poots
{{short description|British actress (born 1989)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Imogen Poots
| image = Imogen Poots 2020.png
| caption = Poots in 2020
| birth_name = Imogen Gay Poots
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1989|06|03}}
| birth_place = Hammersmith, London, England
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 2004–present
}}
Imogen Gay Poots (born 3 June 1989) is an English actress. She played Tammy in the post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Weeks Later (2007), Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013), Debbie Raymond in the Paul Raymond biopic The Look of Love (2013), and Julia Maddon in the American action film Need for Speed (2014). Also in 2014, she portrayed Jess Crichton in A Long Way Down, alongside Pierce Brosnan and Aaron Paul. She appeared as Isabella "Izzy" Patterson in Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way. In 2016, she starred as Kelly Ann in the Showtime series Roadies. In 2019, she co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg in the films Vivarium and The Art of Self-Defense. In 2020, she played Laura in The Father (2020).
Early life and education
Imogen Gay Poots was born in June 1989{{cite web |url= http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/1209623 |title=POOTS, Imogen |publisher=British Film Institute |date=16 April 2009 |access-date=31 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192330/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/1209623 |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }} at the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, London, the daughter of Trevor Poots, a current affairs television producer from Belfast, and Fiona Goodall, a journalist and voluntary worker from Brighton.{{cite news |last=Mottram |first=James |date=10 December 2010 |title=Imogen Poots – A blooming English Rose |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/imogen-poots--a-blooming-english-rose-2155549.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=15 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215170411/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/imogen-poots--a-blooming-english-rose-2155549.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Shields |first=Rachel |date=2 May 2010 |title=Imogen Poots: A bright young thing who won't suffer for her art |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/imogen-poots-a-bright-young-thing-who-wont-suffer-for-her-art-1960382.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=2 May 2010 |archive-date=7 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107123640/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/imogen-poots-a-bright-young-thing-who-wont-suffer-for-her-art-1960382.html |url-status=live }} She has an older brother.{{cite news |author= |title=Union Pack |url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/union-pack |newspaper=Interview |date=March 2010 |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-date=8 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808021629/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/union-pack |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Barker |first=Lynn |date=16 August 2011 |title="Fright Night's" Leading Lady |url=http://www.teenhollywood.com/2011/08/16/fright-nights-leading-lady |newspaper=Teen Hollywood |access-date=27 November 2013 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202232915/http://www.teenhollywood.com/2011/08/16/fright-nights-leading-lady |url-status=live }}
Raised in Chiswick, West London, Poots was privately educated, attending Bute House Preparatory School for Girls in Brook Green, Queen's Gate School in South Kensington, and Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. While intending to become a veterinary surgeon, she began spending Saturdays at an improvisation workshop hosted by the Young Blood Theatre Company at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. She abandoned her original career aspiration after fainting at the sight of veterinary surgery during work experience.
Attaining three A grades at A-level, she won a place at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2008, but had it deferred for two years in order to pursue her acting career.{{cite news |last=Hattersley |first=Giles |author-link=Giles Hattersley |date=11 September 2001 |title=She's got the look |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/film_and_tv/film/article1239784.ece |newspaper=The Sunday Times |access-date=13 November 2013 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113223120/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/film_and_tv/film/article1239784.ece |url-status=dead }}
Career
File:Imogen Poots Comic-Con 2011.jpg panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2011]]
Poots first appeared on-screen in a 2004 episode of Casualty and had a non-speaking role in 2006's V for Vendetta, but she was largely unknown when, at the age of 17, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo cast her in the horror film 28 Weeks Later, released in 2007. Since then, she has appeared in films such as Cracks (2009), Centurion (2010), and as the female lead in the 2011 remake of Fright Night alongside Anton Yelchin.{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Pip |date=16 April 2010 |title=Imogen Poots: a starlet is born |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/imogen-poots-a-starlet-is-born-6459618.html |newspaper=London Evening Standard |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=18 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018200327/http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/imogen-poots-a-starlet-is-born-6459618.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Power |first=Chris |date=29 April 2007 |title=Rising star |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2007/apr/29/features.magazine27 |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113225704/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2007/apr/29/features.magazine27 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Newman |first=Sara |date=21 May 2007 |title=The 5-Minute Interview: Imogen Poots, Actress |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2565129.ece |newspaper=The Independent |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108012807/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2565129.ece |archive-date=8 January 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=13 November 2013}}{{cite news |last=Aftab |first=Kaleem |date=26 December 2009 |title=Talent 2010: The actress, Imogen Poots |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/talent-2010-the-actress-imogen-poots-1848090.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=18 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218142650/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/talent-2010-the-actress-imogen-poots-1848090.html |url-status=live }} Although Poots has never formally trained as an actress, according to Giles Hattersley, she developed her acting skills through a practical apprenticeship that may have served her well, as she is "compellingly natural" in front of the camera.
In 2011, she was chosen by fashion house Chloé to appear in a campaign for its eponymous fragrance shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.{{cite news |last=Forrester |first=Sarah |date=27 May 2011 |title=Chloe's New Signings |url=http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2011/05/27/imogen-poots-new-chloe-perfume-girl |newspaper=Vogue |access-date=18 July 2012 |archive-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203003749/http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2011/05/27/imogen-poots-new-chloe-perfume-girl |url-status=live }} In 2012, she was selected to star in a Sofia Coppola-directed advertising campaign for a collaboration between fashion label Marni and high street retailer H&M.{{cite news |last=Bergin |first=Olivia |date=30 January 2012 |title=Imogen Poots lands Marni for H&M campaign |url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/tmg9049462/Imogen-Poots-lands-Marni-for-HandM-campaign.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=13 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113225155/http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/tmg9049462/Imogen-Poots-lands-Marni-for-HandM-campaign.html |archive-date=13 November 2013 }}{{YouTube|id=A7x4pCMRVQw|title=Behind the scenes of the Marni at H&M commercial}}
In 2012, Poots played the acrimonious young violinist Alexandra Gelbart opposite Catherine Keener and Philip Seymour Hoffman in A Late Quartet. In 2013, she appeared in Greetings from Tim Buckley, Filth, The Look of Love, and portrayed Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side, alongside André Benjamin as Hendrix.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402085/|title=All Is by My Side (2013)|publisher=IMDb.com|access-date=27 September 2015|archive-date=8 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208051624/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402085/|url-status=live}} In 2014, Poots starred in the romantic comedy That Awkward Moment and the action film Need for Speed, an adaptation of the video game series, and played Jess in the black comedy A Long Way Down. In 2015, she appeared opposite Owen Wilson in She's Funny That Way with Jennifer Aniston and Knight of Cups with Cate Blanchett,{{cite web |last=Dang |first=Simon |date=12 June 2012 |title=Imogen Poots Spotted Shooting 'Knight Of Cups' With Christian Bale; Terrence Malick Meeting With Benicio Del Toro? |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/british-actress-imogen-poots-spotted-shooting-with-christian-bale-on-knight-of-cups-terrence-malick-meeting-with-benicio-del-toro-20120612 |website=Indiewire |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-date=17 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917215854/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/british-actress-imogen-poots-spotted-shooting-with-christian-bale-on-knight-of-cups-terrence-malick-meeting-with-benicio-del-toro-20120612 |url-status=dead }} has been cast in the adaptation of Jess Walter's novel Beautiful Ruins,{{cite news |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=15 November 2013 |title=Imogen Poots to Star in Todd Field's 'Beautiful Ruins' (Exclusive) |url=https://variety.com/2013/film/news/imogen-poots-todd-field-beautiful-ruins-1200821017/ |newspaper=Variety |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-date=14 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214144902/http://variety.com/2013/film/news/imogen-poots-todd-field-beautiful-ruins-1200821017/ |url-status=live }} and reunited with Yelchin for Green Room. In 2016, she starred as Kelly Ann in the Showtime series Roadies.
In 2017, she played Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which was broadcast via National Theatre Live on 18 May 2017 from the Harold Pinter Theatre in the London West End. Also that year, Poots starred in the Amy Herzog play Belleville at the Donmar Warehouse opposite James Norton.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/riveting-troubling-insights-belleville-donmar-warehouse-review/|title=Riveting and troubling insights on the frailty of human relationships – Belleville, Donmar Warehouse, review|first=Dominic|last=Cavendish|date=15 December 2017|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=13 August 2018|archive-date=13 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813143236/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/riveting-troubling-insights-belleville-donmar-warehouse-review/|url-status=live}}
In 2022, she began playing the role of the mysterious Autumn in the Prime Video science fiction neo-Western series Outer Range.
She played Lady Rose Dugdale, a wealthy and cultured member of the British upper class-turned-Provisional IRA member, in the 2023 film Baltimore.{{cite news |last1=Ide |first1=Wendy |title=Baltimore review – Imogen Poots excels as British aristocrat turned IRA volunteer Rose Dugdale |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/18/rose-dugdale-obituary |access-date=25 March 2024 |publisher=The Observer |date=24 March 2024}}
Personal life
Poots was engaged to actor James Norton, but they later ended their relationship after six years.{{cite web |last1=Edmonds |first1=Lizzie |title=James Norton and Imogen Poots 'split' after six years together |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/james-norton-imogen-poots-split-relationship-james-bond-b1138095.html |website=The Standard |access-date=13 October 2024 |date=9 February 2024 |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007131942/https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/james-norton-imogen-poots-split-relationship-james-bond-b1138095.html |url-status=live }}
Acting credits
= Film =
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! Title ! Year ! Role ! Notes |
| 2005
| Young Valerie Page | |
| rowspan="2"|2007
| Tammy Harris | |
| Wish
| Jane |
| 2008
| Lorelei Lathrop | |
| rowspan="3"|2009
| Cracks | Poppy | |
| Waking Madison
| Alexis | |
| Solitary Man
| Allyson Karsch | |
| rowspan="2"|2010
| Arianne | |
| Chatroom
| Eva | |
| rowspan="3"|2011
| Blanche Ingram | |
| Fright Night
| Amy Peterson | |
| Comes a Bright Day
| Mary Bright | |
| 2012
| Alexandra Gelbart | |
| rowspan="4"|2013
| Allie | |
| Jimi: All Is by My Side
| |
| Filth
| Amanda Drummond | |
| The Look of Love
| Debbie Raymond | |
| rowspan="4"|2014
| Ellie Andrews | |
| A Long Way Down
| Jess Crichton | |
| Need for Speed
| Julia Maddon | |
| She's Funny That Way
| Isabella Patterson | |
| rowspan="3"|2015
| Della | |
| Green Room
| Amber | |
| A Country Called Home
| Ellie | |
| rowspan="3"|2016
| Lola | |
| Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
| Ashley Wednesday | |
| Killing for Love
| Voice; documentary |
| rowspan="4"|2017
| Have Had | Grace | Short film |
| Sweet Virginia
| Lila | |
| Mobile Homes
| Ali | |
| I Kill Giants
| Karen | |
| 2018
| Age Out | Joan | |
| rowspan="4"|2019
| Anna | |
| Vivarium
| Gemma | Also executive producer |
| Castle in the Ground
| Ana | |
| Black Christmas
| Riley Stone | |
| rowspan="2"| 2020
| Laura | |
| French Exit
| Susan | |
| rowspan="2"| 2023
| |
| The Teacher
| Lisa | |
| 2024
| Laura | |
| rowspan="2"| 2025 |
| {{Pending film|Hedda}}
| Thea Clifton | Post-production |
{{Pending films key}}
= Television =
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 2004
| Casualty | Alice Thornton | Episode: "Love Bites" |
| 2008
| Fanny Austen-Knight | TV movie |
| rowspan="2" | 2010
| Prue Sorenson | Main cast, miniseries |
| Christopher and His Kind
| TV movie |
| 2016
| Roadies | Kelly Ann Mason | Main cast |
| 2020
| Joy Hanks | Main cast, miniseries |
| 2022–2024
| Autumn | Main cast |
= Stage =
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |
| Year
! Play ! Role ! Theatre ! {{abbr|Ref.|References}} |
|---|
| rowspan="2"|2017
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Honey |
| Belleville
| Abby |
Awards and nominations
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|1782299}}
{{BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poots, Imogen}}
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Category:British people of Northern Ireland descent
Category:British people of Scottish descent
Category:English child actresses
Category:English film actresses
Category:English people of Northern Ireland descent
Category:English television actresses
Category:People educated at Latymer Upper School
Category:People educated at Queen's Gate School
Category:Actresses from London
Category:People from Hammersmith
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English voice actresses
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham