Pom Klementieff

Pom Klementieff is a rising actor best known for her role as Mantis in several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Klementieff’s career began in French cinema in director Gaël Morel’s After Him (2007) starring Catherine Deneuve, followed by a supporting role in Jean-Paul Rouve’s caper movie, The Easy Way (2008).

The next significant movie for Klementieff was the rom-com, Delicacy (2011), starring Audrey Tautou, and then supporting roles in writer-director Frédéric Jardin’s thriller, Sleepless Nights (2011); writer-director Frédéric Beigbeder’s comedy, Love Lasts Three Years (2011); writer-director Romain Levy’s comedy, Radiostars (2012); and writer-director Franck Gastambide’s sex comedy, Porn in the Hood (2012).

Pom Klementieff’s first role in a major international film (and one of her few as a Korean character) was under Spike Lee’s direction in his English-language remake of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 action movie, Oldboy (2013), starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, and Samuel L. Jackson, and which bombed at the box office with a poor $5.2 million return on a $30 million budget.

The second English-language movie for Klementieff was director-producer Drake Doremus’s drama, Newness (2017), starring Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Another Sundance premiere for Klementieff was writer-director Matt Spicer’s comedy-drama, Ingrid Goes West (2017), starring Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, and O’Shea Jackson Jr., which earned $3.3 million for distributor Neon.

The career breakthrough for Pom Klementieff soon followed when writer-director James Gunn cast her as Mantis in writer-director James Gunn’s hit sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), as she played opposite the colorful cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Kurt Russell, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, and Sylvester Stallone, and grossing a whopping $869 million globally.

This success locked in Klementieff as Mantis for several other Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters including Anthony and Joe Russo’s paired megahits Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) as well as Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), with Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Russell Crowe, and Natalie Portman. Klementieff returned as Mantis in Gunn’s franchise sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), with new cast members Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, and Sylvester Stallone.

Non-MCU movies for Klementieff during this period started most notably with Benny and Josh Safdie’s superb drama-comedy, Uncut Gems (2019), starring Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian, and grossing a robust $50 million (on a $19 million budget).

An even bigger hit in which Klementieff earned a supporting role was the animated big-screen version of The Addams Family (2019), with the voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, and Allison Janney, and grossing a big $203.7 million globally, on a $24 million budget.

Klementieff then scored a role in another franchise, as the secondary villain in writer-director Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Parts One (2023) and Two (2024), starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Venessa Kirby, and Henry Czerny.