SARAH POLLEY
b. January 8, 1979 in Toronto, Ontario
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Image on the left is Copyright © 2008 by R.A.Lucas and is part of The Northern Stars Collection.
This biography is Copyright © 2007 and may not be reproduced without written permission. Click here for more information about copyright.
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Born January 8th in 1979 to an actor father and a casting director mother, Sarah Polley began acting at the age of four in a movie called One Magic Christmas. She liked the process enough to keep pushing her parents into letting her do more.
She made another movie, The Big Town, and starred in two TV productions before grabbing a large role in Terry Gilliam's The Adventure's of Baron Munchausen in 1988. Her performance in the role was well received. A great feat considering she was o nly nine at the time.
In Babar: The Movie, Polley performed the voice of one of the main animated characters. Her role after Babar was one many actresses her age only dream of. From 1989 to 1995 she starred in the continuation of a Canadian Classic, The Road to Avonlea. Shown on the CBC weekly across Canada, the series depicts a small town's struggle to build a community in PEI. The Road to Avonlea was so successful that it caught the attention of executives at the Disney channel, who promptly picked it up but aired it under the shorter title of Avonlea in the United States.
After a few years in that role, she began to look for her next challenge, and moved her considerable talent to the live stage. It was 1994 and she was in the Stratford Theatre’s production of Alice: Through the Looking Glass. Unfortunately,  Polley had to bow out early to have surgery on her spine. Suffering from Scoliosis, her spine curved incorrectly and surgery was the only answer. She made a complete recovery and returned to work soon after. This isn't her only brush with health problems. In another event she had two of her teeth knocked out as a result of the Toronto riot squad’s dispersion of a peaceful protest outside of Queen's Park, Ontario's provincal capital building in Toronto.
The first time Polley worked with Canadian director Atom Egoyan was also in 1994. She had the opportunity to be in the film Exotica. Although a small role, Exotica was great exposure for Polley. Three years later they were working together again. In the Oscar nominated, Cannes award-winning The Sweet Hereafter, Polley played the lone survivor of a school bus tragedy and her haunting performance was critically acclaimed.
She went on to make four movies movies in 1997 and 1998. They include The Planet of Junior Brown and Last Night. Polley saw two films released in 1999: Go, a movie fusing hot music with a solid plot was a sleeper hit with the rave generation with Polley’s portrayal of a grocery cashier by day, and a risk-taking raver by night was refreshing and long overdue. Her work in David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, also released in 1999, is a strong indication of her talent and pull. Her strong performances in both films raised her profile in movie making circles across the border but she has stated a love for working on independent Canadian films. This bodes well for filmmakers on the northern side of the border.
Seemingly not content to stay on just one side of the camera, Sarah made her directorial  debut at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival with a short film. Don't Think Twice is a dark comedy about a man caught between love and family.
In January of 2006 it was announced that Sarah Polley would receive ACTRA Toronto's 2006 Award of Excellence. The announcement said, in part, "Sarah Polley is one of Canada’s treasures. She is a commanding actor who has taken on varied and challenging roles while becoming one of our most recognizable Canadian stars." Everyone at Northern Stars heartily agrees.
In 2006, Sarah Polley was busy directing her first feature, Away from Her which had its Canadian premier at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film went on to international acclaim and won seven Genie Awards in early 2008 including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. She was just 29.
It is going to be fascinating to watch her grow and continue to stretch her considerable talents for decades to come.
Go to Sarah Polley's Filmography
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