Polley, Sarah (1979– )

Canadian actor. She has been praised for her sensitive portrayals of troubled women and for her range and depth of expression, and is also known for her political activism. Her acclaimed role in The Sweet Hereafter (1997) familiarized her to US audiences, and despite an ambivalence about the world of show business, she was a prolific Hollywood actor by the end of the century.

She has gravitated towards independent cinema, and other films include Go, eXistenZ, and Guinevere (all 1999), No Such Thing (2001), My Life without Me (2003), and Luck (2004). A starring role in the successful remake of the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead in 2004 marked a departure from the independent genre.

She was born in Toronto, Canada. Both her parents were involved in the film industry, and she made her first film appearance at the age of six. She starred in the Canadian television series Ramona 1987–88, which she followed with the series Road to Avonlea (1989) and Straight Up (1997), and became one of Canada's leading rising stars. Early films include The Big Town (1987) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), but her first major film role was in the Canadian television film Lantern Hill (1991). She left high school and took a break in filmmaking during the mid 1990s and became heavily involved in far left politics.