
Biography
Sarah Ellen Polley OC (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, political activist and retired actress. She first garnered attention as a child actress for her role as Ramona Quimby in the television series Ramona, based on Beverly Cleary's books. This subsequently led to her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series Road to Avonlea (1990–1996). She has starred in many feature films, including The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Guinevere (1999), Go (1999), The Weight of Water (2000), No Such Thing (2001), My Life Without Me (2003), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Splice (2009), and Mr. Nobody (2009). Polley made her feature film directorial debut with Away from Her (2006), for which she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Polley's second film, Take This Waltz (2011), premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, followed by her first documentary film, Stories We Tell (2012). She also wrote the miniseries Alias Grace, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. In 2022, Polley wrote and directed the film Women Talking, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sarah Polley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Awards & recognition
- Academy Award — Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay · 2023
- Writers Guild of America Award · 2023
- Canada's Walk of Fame · 2010
- Canadian Comedy Award — Best Performance by a Female – Film
- Governor General's Performing Arts Award
Show all 11 awards →
- John Dunning Best First Feature Award
- Officer of the Order of Canada
- Academy Award — Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay · 2023 · nominated
- Golden Globe Award — Best Screenplay · 2023 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay · 2008 · nominated
- European Film Award — Best Actress · 2006 · nominated
Filmography39 titles

Avonlea

Mr. Nobody

The Studio

John Adams

Slings and Arrows

Friday the 13th: The Series

Alias Grace

Stories We Tell

Dawn of the Dead

Away from Her

The Secret Life of Words

Go

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Sweet Hereafter

Women Talking

Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power

eXistenZ

Last Night

Exotica

Take This Waltz

Jerry and Tom

Don't Come Knocking

The Hanging Garden

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

My Life Without Me

No Such Thing

The Claim

Splice

The I Inside

One Magic Christmas

The Event

Guinevere

Babar: The Movie

Seven Veils

Beowulf & Grendel

Love Come Down

The Weight of Water

Blue Monkey

The Planet of Junior Brown