Sarah Polley [dot] Org - sarahpolley.org

Polley is the youngest of five children, born into an entertainment family. Her father, Michael, was an actor and her mother, Diane, worked as a casting agent. Scripts were always lying around the house and Polley learned to read at a young age. Her brother Mark made television appearances and she was soon asking her parents if she could do the same. Although they professed an interest in giving Polley a "normal" childhood, she made her feature film debut at the age of four, in a Disney production called One Magic Christmas. More roles followed, including a tough slog through Terry Gilliam's The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen when she was seven.

Siblings: Susy (18 years older), John (17 years older), Mark (11 years older) and Joanna (8 years older)

One of five children, her birth came eight years after that of her youngest sibling, when her parents were in their mid-forties.

Michael Polley was born in England in 1933 and studied acting during the 1950s; one of his classmates was Albert Finney. Polley emigrated to Canada, settling in the Toronto metropolitan area, and practiced his craft on the stage. He married the former Diane MacMillian and the couple had four children, including the actor Mark Polley and producer John Buchan (their other children are a lawyer and a university professor), before Sarah entered the world when both were in their forties. Although Diane Polley was a professional actress, she made a name for herself as a casting director.

In 1990, Polley began her six-year stint in Road To Avonlea. It became a huge success and a childhood ritual for millions of viewers. "You know a good way of describing how big it was for people who don't live here?" she says. "The ratings were even higher than Hockey Night In Canada."

In 1991, circa the first Gulf War, she attended an awards ceremony for children's television in Washington and supplemented her outfit with a peace symbol. Disney officials at her table asked her to remove it. Polley refused. Disney, she says, never asked her to do another audition.

She moved out of her home when she was 14, set up on her own - she had the income to do it - and dropped out of school.

She was originally cast as Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000). When she turned down the role, writer-director Cameron Crowe considered cancelling the film. Brad Pitt, who originally was cast in the role of Stillwater guitarist Russell Hammond and reportedly was anxious to work with Polley, quit the film after her departure. Sarah chose to return to Canada to make the $1.5 million The Law of Enclosures (2001) for Genie Award-winner John Greyson, a director she greatly admires. The film grossed poorly in Canada and was not released in the U.S., but it did garner Polley her second Genie nomination for Best Actress.

No profile of Sarah Polley would be complete without a mention of her tireless political activism. She is unequivocal about the need for widespread social change and is active in political organizing and lobby efforts in favor of arts funding and health care spending, and on behalf of the homeless.

During one violent clash between police and protestors at Queen's Park, in 1995, Sarah lost a couple of back teeth.

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.

Her favorite book is JD Salinger's Franny and Zooey. "The last five pages are the best five pages I've ever read." (Interview, February 2003)

She has known Scott Speedman, her on-screen husband in My Life Without Me, since high school.

She is a fan of zombie films. Her favorite are the Romero ones and White Zombie.

Appeared on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" on the 15th of March 2004 to promote the film Dawn of the Dead (2004). She stated that it was her first appearance on an American late-night talk show.

Isabel Coixet wrote Hanna's role in The Secret Life Of Words for Sarah because they worked together on her previous film (My Life Without Me) and they really connected on a very deep level. So Isabel promised Sarah she'd write something for her someday (plus Sarah can make her laugh even in the worse circumstances!!).

Both Sarah and her husband, David Wharnsby, won 2004 Genie Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars, she for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for My Life Without Me (2003), and he for Outstanding Achievement in Editing for The Saddest Music in the World (2003).

One of the reasons why Sarah wanted to work in Don't Come Knocking was the fact that her deceased mother Diane was a big Sam Shepard admiror and that her favourite movie was Paris, Texas by director Wim Wenders. Because of that Sarah did something she doesn't usually do: she had to fight for a role. Another curious fact: the woman in the photo that Sky shows to Howard is Sarah's real mother.

Has worked with the legendary actress Julie Christie three times: they co-starred in No Such Thing (2001) and the Goya Award-winning La Vida secreta de las palabras (2005) (The Secret Life of Words), and Christie is playing the lead in Polley's first feature film as a director, Away From Her (2006). Polley is impressed not only by Christie's talent, but praises her intelligence and independence. After working with her in No Such Thing (2001), Sarah -- who lost her mother when she was 11 years old -- said that Christie had become one of her surrogate mothers.

Has worked with husband David Wharnsby three times: Don't Think Twice (1999), Siblings (2004) and Away From Her (2006).

On February 24, 2006, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists awarded her the Award of Excellence for a critically acclaimed career at the 2006 ACTRA Toronto Awards. ACTRA's Toronto chapter, the union's largest, has approximately 21,000 members.

She had intended her feature film debut to be Itchy, based on a script she wrote about a 12-year-old actress starring on a television series. However, she was unable to get the project greenlighted, and turned to another property she had, an adaptation of one of her favorite short stories, Alice Munro's The Bear Came Over the Mountain. The story, which deals with a couple dealing with the wife's Alzheimer's disease, appealed to her as her own grandmother had suffered from the affliction.