2007–2012: Early work

Poulter played the role of Lee Carter in the 2007 movie Son of Rambow, alongside his co-star Bill Milner. He performed with other young comedic actors in School of Comedy,^[10] which aired its pilot on Channel 4's Comedy Lab on 21 August 2008, before being commissioned for a full series in 2009.^[11]

In 2010, he played the role of Eustace Scrubb in the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which was filmed in Queensland, Australia, and was accompanied by some members of his family.^[12][13] In 2010, he appeared in the BBC Three pilot The Fades, a 60-minute supernatural thriller written by Jack Thorne. The pilot was picked up as a six-part series in 2011, of which Poulter was not included.^[14]

In 2011, Poulter starred alongside Charlie Creed-Miles as Bill's son Dean, in the British independent film Wild Bill, directed by Dexter Fletcher.^[15] The cast included a host of British talent with Leo Gregory, Neil Maskell, Liz White, Iwan Rheon, Olivia Williams, Jaime Winstone, Andy Serkis, and Sean Pertwee, and scored a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.^[16] In 2012, Poulter began studying drama at the University of Bristol where he lived in Badock Hall, however dropped out after a year in order to pursue acting full time.^[17]

2013–present: mainstream recognition and further work

In 2013, he played Kenny in We're the Millers,^[18] starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis. He also appeared as a caretaker in the music video for Rizzle Kicks' song "Skip to the Good Bit".^[19] Though he loved the script and auditioned for the role of Augustus Waters, he was denied the part in The Fault in Our Stars.^[20]

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 same year, he played Gally in the film adaptation of The Maze Runner,^[18] alongside Dylan O'Brien and Kaya Scodelario. Poulter went on to describe the film, and his role in it, as "a turning point" in his career.^[20]

In 2015, Poulter starred as Shane in the Irish indie film Glassland,^[18] directed by Gerard Barrett and co-starring Jack Reynor and Toni Collette.^[18]

In 2014, Poulter won the BAFTA Rising Star Award, voted for by the public.^[21][22] 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.^[23]

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".^[24]

Poulter played Jim Bridger in the revenge-thriller The Revenant (2015), directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The film centres on an 1820s frontiersman on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.^[25] In 2017, he played the racist police officer Philip Krauss in the film Detroit,^[18] about the 1967 Detroit riots. His performance was praised by Metro's Matt Prigge, who called him "terrifyingly confident".^[26]

Poulter was initially cast as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 2017 adaptation,^[18] of the Stephen King novel 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.^[27]

In 2018, Poulter reprised his role as Gally in Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the third and final instalment of the Maze Runner film series.^[18] Later that year, he starred in the film The Little Stranger,^[18] as Roderick "Roddy" Ayres, a facially disfigured, haunted war veteran; and as game developer Colin Ritman in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a standalone interactive film of the Black Mirror television series.^[28] In 2019, he played the character of Mark in Ari Aster's horror film Midsommar.^[18] That year, he and Asim Chaudry presented Lee Mack with the Best Entertainment Performance award at the BAFTA TV awards for Would I Lie to You.^[29] In 2020, he participated in filming The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope,^[18] an interactive choice game created by Supermassive Games, in which he portrays Andrew, Anthony, and Abraham.

Poulter played the role of OxyContin sales representative Billy Cutler in Hulu's 2021 drama miniseries Dopesick.^[18] Poulter's performance was nominated for a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for this role.^[30]

In October 2021, Poulter was cast as Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which released on 5 May 2023.^[31][32]

Film

Television

Video games

Radio