Imogen Poots

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 Chloé 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 André Benjamin as Hendrix.