Will Poulter
Will Poulter | |
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![]() Poulter at the Paris premiere of The Revenant in January 2016 | |
Born | William Jack Poulter 28 January 1993 Hammersmith, London, England |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2007–present |
William Poulter (born 28 January 1993) is an English actor known for his work in the films Son of Rambow (2007), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010), We're the Millers (2013), The Maze Runner (2014), The Revenant (2015), Detroit (2017), Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018). For his work in We're the Millers, Poulter won the BAFTA Rising Star Award.[1]
Early life
Poulter was born in Hammersmith, England, the son of Caroline Poulter (née Barrah), a former nurse, and Neil Poulter, a distinguished physician and Professor of Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine at Imperial College London.[2] [3] Poulter had a troubled early life, often times having been bullied and being called “Poultry Boy” due to his last name sounding like “Poultry.”
Careerist
Early work (2007–2012)
Poulter played various acting roles before landing the role of Lee Carter in the 2007 movie Son of Rambow, which was released to positive reviews, and praise for the performances of Poulter and his co-star Bill Milner. He also performed with other young comedic actors in School of Comedy,[4] which aired its pilot on Channel 4's Comedy Lab on 21 August 2008. School of Comedy was then commissioned for a full series by Channel 4,[5] which began airing on 2 October 2009. The programme finished after a second series.
In 2009, he was selected to play the role of Eustace Scrubb in the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (filmed in Queensland, Australia), and was accompanied by some members of his family. The movie was first screened on 10 December 2010. The film opened to mixed reviews, but Poulter's performance was well received.[6][7]
In 2010, he appeared in the BBC Three pilot The Fades, a 60-minute supernatural thriller written by Skins writer Jack Thorne. The pilot was picked up as a six-part series with an almost entirely new cast, which aired in 2011.[8][9]
Poulter began filming a small British independent film called Wild Bill, directed by Dexter Fletcher, at the end of 2010.[10] It centres around Bill Hayward, played by Charlie Creed-Miles, who, on parole after spending eight years in prison, finds his two sons, Dean (Poulter) and Jimmy (Sammy Williams), living alone and abandoned by their mother. With the attention of social services now focused on the boys, Bill struggles to play good dad while keeping out of jail as Jimmy gets in trouble with some dangerous acquaintances of Bill's past.[11] The film was released on 23 March 2012 to extremely positive reviews, with praise for Poulter's performance.[12] In 2011, Poulter appeared with the popular British blogger and his School of Comedy co-star Jack Harries on his YouTube channel by the name of JacksGap in a video called Jack and Will.
Mainstream recognition and further work (2013–present)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Will_Poulter_2013.jpg/220px-Will_Poulter_2013.jpg)
In 2013, he played Kenny in We're the Millers, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis. While the film opened to mixed reviews, the performances of the cast were well received, especially that of Poulter, who found mainstream recognition with his showy, comedic work in the film. He also appeared as a caretaker in the music video for Rizzle Kicks' song "Skip to the Good Bit". Though he loved the script and auditioned for the role of Augustus Waters, he was denied the part in The Fault in Our Stars.[13]
In 2014, he played Fordy in the crime film Plastic, directed by Julian Gilbey and starring Ed Speleers, Alfie Allen, Sebastian De Souza and Emma Rigby. The film was critically panned on release. The same year, he played Gally in the film adaptation of The Maze Runner, alongside Dylan O'Brien and Kaya Scodelario. The film was a critical and commercial success, with the performances of the cast being praised. Poulter went on to describe the film, and his role in it, as "a turning point" in his career.[13]
In 2015, Poulter starred as Shane in the Irish indie film Glassland, directed by Gerard Barrett and co-starring Jack Reynor and Toni Collette. The film was a critical success, with many reviewers praising Poulter's performance in particular as being his most diverse role to date. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Poulter stated the film was "the proudest I've been to be a part of a movie".
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Will_Poulter_SDCC_2014.jpg/200px-Will_Poulter_SDCC_2014.jpg)
In 2014, Poulter won the BAFTA Rising Star Award, voted for by the public.[14] Other actors nominated for the award were Lupita Nyong'o, George MacKay, Léa Seydoux and Dane DeHaan.[15] The same year, he also won the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with his co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts) for his performance in We're the Millers.[16]
In 2014, Poulter was chosen as one of 23 upcoming actors to feature in July's issue of Vanity Fair, with all actors being named "Hollywood's Next Wave". Other actors featured included Dylan O'Brien (Poulter's co-star in The Maze Runner), Jack Reynor (Poulter's co-star in Glassland), and Tye Sheridan (Poulter's co-star in The Yellow Birds).[17]
Poulter played Jim Bridger in the revenge-thriller The Revenant, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The film centers on an 1820s frontiersman on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.[18] In 2017, he played the racist police officer Philip Krauss in the film Detroit, about the 1967 Detroit riots. His work in the film was praised with one critic calling it "towering" while another deemed it "terrifyingly confident".[19][20]
Poulter was initially cast as Pennywise the Clown in the 2017 remake of the Stephen King miniseries It. However, it was announced in June 2016 that Bill Skarsgård had been cast instead because Poulter dropped out due both to scheduling conflicts (the film was set to shoot at the same time as Poulter was set to begin work on Detroit) as well as the departure of its initial director, Cary Fukunaga.[21]
In 2018, Poulter reprised his role as Gally in Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the third and final installment of the Maze Runner film series. Later in 2018, he also starred in The Little Stranger as Roderick "Roddy" Ayres, a facially disfigured, haunted war veteran. He also starred as game developer Colin Ritman in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a standalone interactive film of the Black Mirror television series.[22]
Personal life
On 3 January 2019, Poulter announced on Twitter that he would be taking a break from social media "in the interest of my mental health" due to unpleasant comments about his appearance in Bandersnatch, admitting that he struggles to receive criticism, but assured fans that he was very appreciative of their support.[23][24]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Son of Rambow | Lee Carter | |
2010 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | Eustace Scrubb | |
2012 | Wild Bill | Dean | |
2013 | We're the Millers | Kenny Rossmore | |
2014 | Plastic | Fordy | |
The Maze Runner | Gally | ||
A Plea for Grimsby | Jone | Short film | |
Glassland | Shane | ||
2015 | The Revenant | Jim Bridger | |
2016 | Kids in Love | Jack | |
2017 | War Machine | Rick Ortega | |
Detroit | Philip Krauss | ||
2018 | Maze Runner: The Death Cure | Gally | |
The Little Stranger | Roderick "Roddy" Ayres | ||
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch | Colin Ritman | Interactive film | |
2019 | Midsommar | Mark | Post-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Comedy: Shuffle | Find Your Folks Presenter | |
2008 | Comedy Lab | Various | |
Lead Balloon | Sweet Throwing Boy | ||
2009–2010 | School of Comedy | Various | |
2010 | The Fades | Mac | Pilot |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | The Incredible True Story | Christopher Smith | Album |
Awards and nominations
References
- ^ "Bafta Film Awards 2014: Full list of winners". BBC. 16 February 2014
- ^ "PROFESSOR NEIL POULTER". Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ^ Son of Rambow: ready for action at www.telegraph.co.uk (accessed 22 June 2008)
- ^ Lee, Robin (16 August 2007). "School of Comedy". The List. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
- ^ "Comedy Labs on Channel 4".
- ^ Will Poulter Cast as Eustace Scrubb at www.narniaweb.com (accessed 22 June 2008)
- ^ Will Poulter Cast in Narnia 3 at www.comingsoon.net (accessed 22 June 2008
- ^ "ScreenTerrier: The Fades". Screenterrier.blogspot.com. 5 June 2010. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Sibayan, Genevieve. "Touch – A new supernatural drama series for BBC3 {TV}". Frost Magazine. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ^ "Narnia stars switch on London's Christmas lights!". The Hollywood News. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ^ http://wildbillthefilm.com/ [dead link]
- ^ "Approximate Release Date for Wild Bill – The Unofficial Will Poulter Fansite". Willpoulterfans.webs.com. 25 July 2011. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b Tao, Anna Peele, Mei (20 December 2017). "Detroit's Will Poulter Talks Making Out with Jennifer Aniston and Being Miserable with Leonardo DiCaprio".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Bafta Film Awards 2014: Full list of winners". BBC. 16 February 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon; Harris, Jamie (8 January 2014). "BAFTA Film Awards 2014 – nominations in full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- ^ "Will Poulter, Emma Roberts & Jennifer Aniston Win MTV Best Kiss". Hollywood life. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ Smith, Krista (11 June 2014). "Hollywood's Next Wave". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (25 June 2014). "We're the Millers" Will Poulter Joins Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Revenant' (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ "Will Poulter gives a towering performance in Detroit".
- ^ Prigge, Matt (23 July 2017). "'Detroit' is a nightmarish history lesson about trauma". Metro. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ "Stephen King's 'It' Adaptation Finds Its Pennywise the Clown (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
- ^ "Meet the cast of Black Mirror's interactive film Bandersnatch". Radio Times. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- ^ "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch star Will Poulter quits Twitter". BBC News. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ Abbott, Kate (3 January 2019). "Bandersnatch star Will Poulter quits Twitter after Black Mirror backlash". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
External links
- Will Poulter at IMDb