Biography

Michael Polley is the Anglo-Canadian actor best known for his connection to the actress-director Sarah Polley, the offspring of his late wife, Diane Polley. Michael Polley was born in England in 1933 and studied acting during the 1950s; one of his classmates was Albert Finney, who compared the profession of acting to that of bricklaying. 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, and it was in that capacity that she launched her daughter Sarah's career when the precocious tyke was four (brother Mark had been a child actor, also).