Pom Klementieff

Pom Alexandra Klementieff is a French actress best known for her portrayal of Mantis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe between 2017 and 2023, as well as her role as Paris in the final two installments of the Mission: Impossible film series spanning 2023 to 2025.

She was born on May 3, 1986, in Quebec City, Canada, to a Korean mother and a Russian-French diplomat father. Her grandfather was the Russian painter Eugene Klementieff, and her parents named her after the Korean words for spring and tiger. Because of her father's career, her family lived in Kyoto and the Ivory Coast before settling in France near Paris. Klementieff faced several early personal tragedies; her father died of cancer when she was five, and her mother was unable to care for her due to schizophrenia, leading her to be raised by her paternal aunt and uncle. Her uncle passed away on her eighteenth birthday, and her older brother died by suicide seven years later on her twenty-fifth birthday.

To satisfy her aunt after her uncle's death, Klementieff briefly studied law in Paris while working as a waitress and saleswoman. She left law to pursue acting at age nineteen at the Cours Florent drama school. After winning a theater competition shortly into her training, she received two years of free instruction under top teachers. She made her screen acting debut in the 2007 French independent film Après lui, followed by her first lead role in the 2009 film Loup, during which she stayed in sub-zero wilderness conditions alongside Siberian reindeer herders and wolves.

Klementieff made her Hollywood debut in Spike Lee's 2013 remake of Oldboy, playing the bodyguard Haeng-bok. For the role, she underwent intensive martial arts training, selected her character's name, and provided part of her own wardrobe. She subsequently moved to Los Angeles and starred in the low-budget movie Hacker's Game in 2015, followed by roles in the 2017 feature films Newness and Ingrid Goes West.

Her international breakthrough arrived when she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 2017. She reprised the character in the blockbusters Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, Avengers: Endgame in 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023. During this period, she also appeared in the series Black Mirror and Westworld, provided voice work for the animated movie The Addams Family, and had a role in the thriller Uncut Gems.

In 2023, Klementieff joined the Mission: Impossible franchise as the assassin Paris in Dead Reckoning Part One, returning for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in 2025. Her other project includes playing Marianna in the 2024 action thriller The Killer's Game. Off-screen, she holds a purple belt in Taekwondo and is an active skydiver, having pursued the sport after receiving skydiving lessons as a wrap gift from Tom Cruise.