Sarah Polley was born on January 8, 1979 to Michael and Diane Polley, the youngest of five children by eight years. She comes from a family experienced in acting, Michael Polley is an actor himself, and Diane was an actress and casting agent until she died from cancer when Sarah was eleven. Sarah's first acting experience was at age four when she appeared as Molly Monaghan in Disney's 'One Magic Christmas'. In 1989 Sarah appeared in the made-for-television 'Hands of a Stranger' and 'The Big Town' before she got her first big break starring as Ramona in the television series of the same name. 1989 also saw her appearing as Jody Turner in Kevin Sullivan's adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's 'Jane of Lantern Hill' entitled 'Lantern Hill'. In this film she worked with some of her future co-stars in Road to Avonlea'.

The following seven years of her professional life had her starring as Sara Stanley in 'Road to Avonlea'. As the series progressed she asked to be written out of the script - a move which had her character moving to France to study writing and her making only one appearance in the final season. In 1994, Sarah appeared in 'Exotica' and 'Joe's so mean to Josephine'. Before scoliosis forced her to stop, she was starring in Stradford's stage production of 'Alice through the looking Glass'. Polley holds very strong political beliefs which has lead her to dedicate much of her life to participate in pro-NDP rallies and protests against the conservatives as well as work for the Onrario Coalition Against Poverty. She has also worked on the treatment of child actors - helping to change child labour provisions. These strong views however have had their share of problems. During one violent clash between police and protestors at Queen's Park, Sarah lost a couple of back teeth. As far as acting goes, Sarah is making the rare change from successful child actor to successful adult actor.