Paul Poom (born 30 June 1958)[1] is a former Estonian stage, film, television, and radio actor whose career began in the late 1970s and ended in 1993 after an assault left him permanently disabled.
Afterward, he enrolled in the Tallinn State Conservatory's (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) Performing Arts Department to study acting under course instructor Merle Karusoo, who instructed the course in the educational theory and practice of Soviet pedagogue Anton Makarenko.
[1] Poom's first stage role was as a boy who runs away from home in a 1978 production of Rein Saluri's 1977 play Poiste sõidud at the Estonian Drama Theatre, directed by Mikk Mikiver.
[3] Graduating classmates of Poom's included actors Roman Baskin, Guido Kangur, Arvo Kukumägi, Ain Lutsepp, Anne Veesaar, and Ülle Kaljuste.
[12] Between 1980 and 1992, Poom worked extensively as an actor in radio plays for Eesti Raadio, including productions of works by such authors and playwrights as: Gianni Rodari, Yanka Kupala, Eduard Vilde, Selma Lagerlöf, Boris Vasilyev, Barrie Stavis, Nodar Dumbadze, Alexander Pushkin, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Ardi Liives, and Paul-Eerik Rummo.
[6] At 9:00 am in late February 1993, police in Tallinn Old Town found an unconscious, bleeding man lying on Vene Street with his pockets turned inside out.
He eventually regained consciousness, but was left permanently disabled; losing most of his sight, the ability to speak, and with severely impaired motor and cognitive function.
He is occasionally visited by former theatre and television colleagues including former Tallinn State Conservatory classmates Ain Lutsepp, Anne Veesaar, and until 2018 Roman Baskin, as well as actor and musician Tõnis Mägi.