Imogen Poots Biography

Imogen Poots (born 3 June 1989) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Tammy in the post-apocalyptic science fiction 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 movie Need For Speed (2014).

Early life

Poots was born at the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, London, the daughter of Trevor Poots, a current affairs television producer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Fiona Goodall, a journalist and voluntary worker from Bolton. She has an older brother, Alex, who is a model.

Raised in Chiswick, Poots was privately educated in west London, 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 veterinarian, 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.

Career

Poots first appeared on-screen in an episode of Casualty and had a non-speaking role in V for Vendetta, but she was largely unknown when, at the age of 17, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo cast her in 28 Weeks Later. Since then, she has appeared in films such as Cracks, Centurion, and the 2011 remake of Fright Night. 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 Chlo to appear in a campaign for its eponymous fragrance shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. 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.

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, and The Look of Love. In 2014, Poots starred in the romantic comedy That Awkward Moment and action film Need for Speed, an adaptation of the video game series. In 2015, she appeared in She's Funny That Way with Jennifer Aniston and Knight of Cups with Cate Blanchett, and has been cast in the adaptation of Jess Walter's novel Beautiful Ruins. She portrayed Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side, alongside Andr Benjamin as Hendrix.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	V for Vendetta	Young Valerie
2007	28 Weeks Later	Tammy Harris
2007	Wish	Jane	Short film
2008	Me and Orson Welles	Lorelei Lathrop
2009	Cracks	Poppy
2009	Waking Madison	Alexis
2009	Solitary Man	Allyson Karsch
2010	Centurion	Arianne
2010	Chatroom	Eva
2011	Jane Eyre	Blanche Ingram
2011	Fright Night	Amy Peterson
2011	Comes a Bright Day	Mary Bright
2012	A Late Quartet	Alexandra Gelbart
2013	Greetings from Tim Buckley	Allie
2013	Jimi: All Is by My Side	Linda Keith
2013	Filth	Amanda Drummond
2013	The Look of Love	Debbie Raymond
2014	That Awkward Moment	Ellie
2014	A Long Way Down	Jess Crichton
2014	Need for Speed	Julia Maddon
2014	She's Funny That Way	Isabella "Izzy" Patterson
2015	Knight of Cups	Della
2015	Green Room	Amber
2015	A Country Called Home	Ellie
2016	Frank & Lola	Lola
2016	Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping	Ashley
2016	The Promise	Elizabeth Haysom

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Casualty	Alice Thornton	Episode: "Love Bites"
2008	Miss Austen Regrets	Fanny Knight	Television film
2010	Bouquet of Barbed Wire	Prue Sorenson	3 episodes
2010	Christopher and His Kind	Jean Ross	Television film
2016	Roadies	Kelly Ann	10 episodes

Awards and nominations

Poots was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer award for 28 Weeks Later at the British Independent Film Awards in 2007 and won Best Supporting Actress for The Look of Love in 2013.