Pom Klementieff
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Pom Alexandra Klementieff (; born 3 May 1986) is a French actress and model. She was trained at the
Cours Florent The Cours Florent is a private French drama school in Paris established in 1967 by François Florent. The school is located on three nearby sites in the XIXe arrondissement, 19th Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissement of Paris, France: rue Arc ...
drama school in Paris and appeared in such French films as '' The Easy Way'' (2008) and '' Sleepless Night'' (2011), before making her American film debut in '' Oldboy'' (2013). Klementieff received worldwide recognition for her role as
Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
films ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ' ...
'' (2017), '' Avengers: Infinity War'' (2018), '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019), '' Thor: Love and Thunder'' (2022) and the television film ''
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special ''The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special'' is an American television special written and directed by James Gunn for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy. It is the secon ...
'' (2022). She will also reprise the role in the upcoming film ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'' (stylized as ''Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3'') is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy (2008 team), Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Ma ...
'' (2023).


Early life

Pom Klementieff was born in
Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
,
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, to a
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
mother and
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
-
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
father Alexis Klementieff, who was working there as a consul with the government of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. She is a French citizen, but does not have Canadian citizenship because ''
jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...
'' does not apply to children of diplomats. Additiona
Archive.is archive
on 7 July 2014.
Her grandfather was the Russian painter Eugene Klementieff (1901-c.1985). Her parents chose the name "Pom" because it is similar in pronunciation to the Korean words for both "spring" () and "tiger" (). Klementieff lived in Canada for one year before her family began travelling extensively due to her father's job. They lived in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and
Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
, before settling in France. Klementieff's father died of cancer when she was five, and her mother had
schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
and was unable to care for children, so Klementieff was raised by her paternal uncle and aunt. Her uncle, whom she described as "like ersecond father", died on her 18th birthday, and her older brother Namou died by suicide seven years later, on her 25th birthday. Klementieff briefly studied law in an undergraduate capacity after her uncle's death to appease her aunt but did not find the career path appealing. She also worked as a waitress and saleswoman in France. She started acting at age 19 at the
Cours Florent The Cours Florent is a private French drama school in Paris established in 1967 by François Florent. The school is located on three nearby sites in the XIXe arrondissement, 19th Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissement of Paris, France: rue Arc ...
drama school in Paris. A few months into her education, she won a theatre competition that awarded her free classes for two years with the school's top teachers.


Career


2007–2012: Early career

Klementieff's first professional acting job was the French independent film ''Après lui'' (2007), portraying the stepdaughter of the protagonist played by
Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...
. Filming for her scenes took three days. During one scene, Klementieff was supposed to push someone down a set of stairs but accidentally fell down the stairs herself, and director
Gaël Morel Gaël Morel (born 25 September 1972) is a French film director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Morel was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône, France, a town of 30,000 inhabitants outside Lyon. He grew up in the nearby village of La ...
kept that shot in the final film. Her first leading role was in ''Loup'' (2009), a French film about a tribe of reindeer herders in the
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
n mountains. During filming, Klementieff stayed in a camp, hours from the nearest village, where temperatures dropped well below zero. During filming she befriended nomads who lived there, worked with real wolves, rode reindeer, and swam with a horse in a lake.


2013–present: Breakthrough

Klementieff made her Hollywood debut in
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
's '' Oldboy'' (2013), a remake of the South Korean film of the same name. She portrayed Haeng-bok, the bodyguard of the antagonist played by
Sharlto Copley Sharlto Copley (born 27 November 1973) is a South African actor. His acting credits include roles in the Academy Award-nominated science fiction film ''District 9'', the 2010 adaptation of ''The A-Team'', the science fiction film ''Elysium'', t ...
. A fan of the original film, Klementieff heard about the part through
Roy Lee Roy Lee (born March 23, 1969) is an American film producer. Lee's production company, Vertigo Entertainment, has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Early life Lee was born in 1969 at Wyckoff Heights Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York, to Korean p ...
, a producer with the remake, and took boxing lessons after learning the role involved martial arts. After showcasing her boxing skills during her audition, Lee asked her to go home and come back wearing a more feminine outfit and make-up, like her character in the film. She contributed some of her own clothes to the character's wardrobe, and trained three hours a day for two months for an on-screen fight with star
Josh Brolin Joshua James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''The Goonies'' (1985), ''Mimic'' (1997), ''Hollow Man'' (2000), ''Grindhouse'' (2007), ''No Country for Old Men'' (2007), '' American Gangste ...
. Klementieff came up with the name Haeng-bok, Korean for "happiness", herself after Lee asked her to research possible names for the character. Klementieff moved to Los Angeles after ''Oldboy'' was filmed and began pursuing more Hollywood auditions. She continued
taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...
after the film, and has a purple belt as of the summer of 2014. Her next acting role was the film ''Hacker's Game'' (2015), in which she plays a hacker she compared to
Lisbeth Salander Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson in his award-winning ''Millennium'' series. She first appeared in the 2005 novel ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'', as an asocial computer hacker ...
from the novel ''
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (original title in sv, Män som hatar kvinnor , lit=''Men Who Hate Women'') is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson (1954–2004). It was published posthumously in 2 ...
''. Klementieff used her boxing skills again in the film, and due to the movie's low budget, she had to do her own make-up and choose her own wardrobe. It was her idea to dye her hair purple for the role, to which the directors first objected but later acquiesced. In 2017, she appeared in the romance drama ''
Newness ''Newness'' is a 2017 American romantic drama film directed by Drake Doremus from a screenplay by Ben York Jones. It stars Nicholas Hoult, Laia Costa, Courtney Eaton, Danny Huston and Esther Perel. The film had its world premiere at the Sund ...
'' and the black comedy-drama ''
Ingrid Goes West ''Ingrid Goes West'' is a 2017 American black comedy drama film directed by Matt Spicer and written by Spicer and David Branson Smith. The film stars Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, Billy Magnussen, Wyatt Russell, Pom Klementieff, and O'Shea Jack ...
''. Klementieff received worldwide recognition when she joined the
Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
as
Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
, appearing in the films ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ' ...
'' (2017), '' Avengers: Infinity War'' (2018), and '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019). In 2019, she appeared in an episode of the
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
science fiction anthology series ''
Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fictio ...
'', the thriller film ''
Uncut Gems ''Uncut Gems'' is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. The film stars Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel and Eric Bogosi ...
'', and had voice roles in the animated supernatural comedy film ''
The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over a ...
''. In 2020, she had a recurring role as Martel in the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
science fiction series ''
Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction- thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populat ...
''.


Filmography


Film


Television


Theme park attractions


Notes


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klementieff, Pom 1986 births 21st-century French actresses Actresses from Quebec City Cours Florent alumni Citizens of France through descent French expatriate actresses in the United States French expatriates in Ivory Coast French expatriates in Japan French film actresses French people of Korean descent French people of Russian descent French television actresses Living people