Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley

1979-01-08 Toronto, Ontario, Canada 63 Credits

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...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity

2024

Executive Producer

6.0
Producing

Can a work of art remain relevant 200 years after its creation? Ludwig van Beethoven’s last completed symphony proves it’s possible.

Women Talking

Women Talking

2022

Screenplay, Director

6.9
Writing Directing

A group of women in an isolated religious colony struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men.

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

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

2019

as Self - Filmmaker

6.8
Acting

The views and thoughts of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood have never been more relevant than today. Readers turn to her work for answers as they confr...

The Secret Path

2016

Executive Producer

5.0
Producing

The Secret Path is an animated film adaptation of Gord Downie's album and Jeff Lemire's graphic novel. Working with Downie's poetry and music, Lemire ...

Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women

Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women

2014

as Self

6.5
Acting

Using rare footage and exclusive interviews with filmmakers from all over the globe, "Reel Herstory" corrects the historic notion that women behind th...

Stories We Tell

Stories We Tell

2012

as Self (uncredited)

7.1
Acting

Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends who...

Stories We Tell

Stories We Tell

2012

Director, Writer

7.1
Directing Writing

Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends who...

Take This Waltz

Take This Waltz

2011

Producer, Director, Writer

6.3
Producing Directing Writing

Twenty-eight-year-old Margot is happily married to Lou, a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel, a handsome artist who lives acro...

Trigger

Trigger

2010

as Hillary

4.8
Acting

Ten years after ending their partnership as rock musicians, two women become re-acquainted in the course of one night.

Splice

Splice

2010

as Elsa

5.9
Acting

Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together huma...

Mr. Nobody

Mr. Nobody

2009

as Adult Elise

7.8
Acting

Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092.

The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen

The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen

2008

as Self - 'Sally Salt'

7.8
Acting

This is an all new feature length documentary, with interviews from almost everyone involved with the production of the film. Gilliam never shies away...

Wrath of Gods

Wrath of Gods

2007

as Self

5.0
Acting

When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel starring Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgard in 2004, they expecte...

Away from Her

Away from Her

2007

Director, Writer

7.0
Directing Writing

Fiona and Grant have been married for nearly 50 years. They have to face the fact that Fiona’s absent-mindedness is a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. ...

The Secret Life of Words

The Secret Life of Words

2005

as Hanna

7.0
Acting

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

Beowulf & Grendel

Beowulf & Grendel

2005

as Selma

5.6
Acting

The blood-soaked tale of a Norse warrior's battle against the great and murderous troll, Grendel. Heads will roll. Out of allegiance to the King Hroth...

Don't Come Knocking

Don't Come Knocking

2005

as Sky

6.2
Acting

Howard Spence has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his disgust for his selfish and failed life with alcohol, drugs and y...

Siblings

Siblings

2004

as Tabby

5.1
Acting

Joe and his siblings have a couple of problems. First off, their stepparents are despicably evil. Secondly, they seemed to have killed them. Now this ...

Sugar

Sugar

2004

as Pregnant Girl

4.9
Acting

Cliff receives an unusual 18th birthday gift from his younger sister — marijuana, alcohol, a subway token and the mission to lose his virginity. This ...

Luck

Luck

2004

as Margaret

5.2
Acting

Shane Bradley, who is fixated on ideas of luck and destiny, tries to win the girl of his dreams. After their relationship falters, Shane begins to thi...

The I Inside

The I Inside

2004

as Clair

5.9
Acting

When Simon awakens in the hospital after surviving a near-fatal accident, amnesia has erased the last two years from his memory. He learns that his br...

Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead

2004

as Ana

7.1
Acting

A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.

My Life Without Me

My Life Without Me

2003

as Ann

6.1
Acting

A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.

Dermott's Quest

2003

as Gwen

6.0
Acting

A man stuck in a rut takes his girlfriend to a medieval festival.

The Event

The Event

2003

as Dana Shapiro

5.9
Acting

Manhattan prosecutor Nick is charged with looking into the untimely death of city resident Matt, a musician who had AIDS. As she questions Matt's loya...

No Such Thing

No Such Thing

2002

as Beatrice

5.9
Acting

A young journalist journeys to Iceland to find her missing fiancé only to encounter a mythical creature who longs to die.

I Shout Love

I Shout Love

2002

Director, Writer

3.0
Directing Writing

Bobby is about to abandon Tessa, but in a suicidal panic she persuades him to stay one last night and reenact the good old times in front of a video c...

The Claim

The Claim

2000

as Hope Burn

6.0
Acting

A prospector sells his wife and daughter to another gold miner for the rights to a gold mine. Twenty years later, the prospector is a wealthy man who ...

Preludes

Preludes

2000

Acting

Commissioned by the Toronto International Film Festival to mark the event's 25th anniversary in September 2000, the "Preludes" program consisted of te...

The Law of Enclosures

The Law of Enclosures

2000

as Beatty 'Beatrice'

5.1
Acting

Story of the same couple, first in their teenage years and then in their twilight years, paradoxically set in the same time during the backdrop of the...

The Weight of Water

The Weight of Water

2000

as Maren Hontvedt

5.5
Acting

A newspaper photographer researches an 1873 double homicide and finds her own life paralleling that of a witness who survived the tragic ordeal.

This Might Be Good

This Might Be Good

2000

Acting

A festival is a concentration of hope. Audiences hungering for something startingly new, famously familiar or just plain "good". Actors hoping their w...

Love Come Down

Love Come Down

2000

as Sister Sarah

5.2
Acting

Two brothers in their early 20s, one black, one white, each the other's keeper since their family was torn apart by a decade old tragedy. Neville is a...

Don't Think Twice

1999

Director, Producer, Writer

1.0
Directing Producing Writing

A black comedy, Don't Think Twice is a disturbing and profound examination of the morals of a man forced to choose between lover and family.

The Life Before This

The Life Before This

1999

as Connie

4.5
Acting

Several innocent persons are hurt after two robbers, fleeing from the police, run into a neighborhood cafe.

Guinevere

Guinevere

1999

as Harper Sloane

5.9
Acting

A young girl from an affluent family rebels and becomes involved with a much older photographer.

eXistenZ

eXistenZ

1999

as Merle

6.8
Acting

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been dam...

Go

Go

1999

as Ronna Martin

7.0
Acting

A supermarket clerk decides to step in for an absent drug dealer, setting off an explosive, comedic chain of events.

The Best Day of My Life

The Best Day of My Life

1999

Screenplay, Director

4.0
Writing Directing

Short drama by Sarah Polley. The film was made for the "On the Fly 4" film festival. The film was shot and edited in one day.

Jerry and Tom

Jerry and Tom

1998

as Deb

6.1
Acting

Tom and Jerry are two hit men, they work by day at a third-rate second-hand car dealership. Tom is a veteran and Jerry is a novice in their business, ...

Last Night

Last Night

1998

as Jennifer Wheeler

6.6
Acting

Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.

White Lies

White Lies

1998

as Catherine

5.2
Acting

How can a smart middle class girl suddenly turn into a devoted right wing debater? That's what happens with Catherine when she meets the charismatic l...

The Sweet Hereafter

The Sweet Hereafter

1997

as Nicole Burnell

6.9
Acting

A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer arrives...

The Planet of Junior Brown

The Planet of Junior Brown

1997

as Butter

4.0
Acting

Powerful story about love, struggle and passion of an over protective mother and her piano prodigy.

The Hanging Garden

The Hanging Garden

1997

as Teen Rosemary

6.4
Acting

William, a once obese and troubled teen, goes back to his family's home after being gone, without word, for ten years and finds it (and his family) ha...

Joe's So Mean to Josephine

Joe's So Mean to Josephine

1997

as Josephine

4.4
Acting

Josephine has her eye on Joe, a hot-headed, petty criminal who taps phones for a living. When she finally worms her way into his heart she realises it...

Children First!

1996

as Host

Acting

A collection of 7 animation short films inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each NFB award-winning film, in their pe...

Exotica

Exotica

1994

as Tracey

6.6
Acting

In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, th...

Johann's Gift to Christmas

Johann's Gift to Christmas

1992

as The Angel

5.0
Acting

A mouse from the streets and a church mouse try to help a priest and an organist save Christmas by composing a Christmas carol.

Road to Avonlea: The Movie

1990

9.0
Acting

After her father is accused of embezzlement, wealthy Sara Stanley is sent to live with her deceased mother's relatives on Prince Edward Island. While ...

Lantern Hill

Lantern Hill

1989

as Jody Turner

8.0
Acting

In 1935 Toronto, Jane Stuart's mother has taken ill, and the two of them have temporarily moved in with her rich, snobbish grandmother, where Jane is ...

Babar: The Movie

Babar: The Movie

1989

as Young Celeste

5.8
Acting

Children's book authors Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff's most beloved elephant comes to the big screen in this animated family tale. Elephant monarch Ki...

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

1988

as Sally Salt

7.0
Acting

An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.

Blue Monkey

Blue Monkey

1987

as Ellen

4.9
Acting

While working in a greenhouse, a man receives an insect bite after touching an exotic plant. Immediately, he falls ill and is taken to an emergency ro...

The Big Town

The Big Town

1987

as Christy Donaldson

5.5
Acting

It is 1957. J.C. Cullen is a young man from a small town, with a talent for winning at craps, who leaves for the big city to work as a professional ga...

Hands of a Stranger

Hands of a Stranger

1987

as Suzie Hearn

4.8
Acting

A New York cop becomes obsessed with finding his wife's rapist.

Pretty Kill

Pretty Kill

1987

as Karla

1.7
Acting

A detective tries to track down a serial killer who is murdering prostitutes while at the same time having to deal with his girlfriend's mental proble...

Heaven On Earth

Heaven On Earth

1987

as Becky Hawthorne

Acting

An armful of destitute orphans transported to the New World at the turn of the century. This is the turbulent and moving story of four British 'bricks...

The Incredible Time-Travels of Henry Osgood

The Incredible Time-Travels of Henry Osgood

1986

5.5
Acting

A college professor wishes he could live in Victorian England. Through a scientific experiment that goes wrong, he is able to make his dream come true...

Confidential

Confidential

1986

as Emma (child)

2.4
Acting

The year is 1949 and reporter Hugh Jameson is looking for a story. He focuses on Emma Porter, a woman who was accused of the axe murder of her father ...

One Magic Christmas

One Magic Christmas

1985

as Molly Monaghan

5.8
Acting

Ginny Grainger, a young mother, rediscovers the joy and beauty of Christmas, thanks to the unshakable faith of her six-year-old daughter Abbie and Gid...

& Sons

N/A

Writer

Writing

Andrew is a novelist best known to the world as A.N. Dyer. He wrote his first book when he was 27, and it became an instant classic, selling 45 millio...

The Best Kind of People

N/A

Screenplay, Director, Producer

Writing Directing Producing

A community turns against a respected prep school teacher and his family after he is arrested for a sex crime.