She will turn 33 in a few weeks (and a happy birthday to her!), but Sarah Polley has accomplished more already than many people can as a group –she has the awards, and lost two teeth, to prove it. Many audiences know her work as an actress; many know she has directed; some know she has written films (writers are often unsung); some might know she can sing too.

And soon, she will be a mother. She has another of her babies, her directed film, ‘Take This Waltz,’ touring international film festivals this year. The Canadian star has been nominated for over two dozen awards, and has won nearly half of them. One of these nominations was for her performance in the 1988 TV series, ‘Ramona,’ when she was eight, four years after she had begun her film career.

Last year, Ms. Polley received a star on ‘Canada’s Walk of Fame,’ which celebrates successful Canadians. Some of her time has been spent as a political activist, fighting for Canada’s leftist party and campaigning for such causes as health-care, the homeless and the arts. In 1995, two of her teeth were knocked out in a skirmish with riot police.

In 1991, Ms. Polley, only twelve, wore a peace sign to protest the first Gulf War; Disney executives were denied their request to remove it and, despite her success in the highly popular ‘Road to Avonlea,’ blacklisted her.

The list of directors with whom she has worked reveals the artistically subversive company she keeps: Terry Gilliam, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Zack Snyder, and Wim Wenders, to name a few. The range of styles is equally impressive: (voice-acting) the Canadian children’s-classic, ‘Babar: the Movie’ (1989); the haunting ‘Exotica’ (1994); the tragic ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ (1997); the horror ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004); the comedy ‘Slings & Arrows’ (2006); and the sci-fi thriller ‘Splice’ (2009).

She can sing, too. In ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ she sings three songs, one of which she co-wrote and is featured as the title track. Ms. Polley has also written a number of short films, and wrote and directed ‘Away from Her’(2006), starring Julie Christie and compatriot Gordon Pinsent.

The film received an Academy Award nomination in 2008, and was awarded the Canadian equivalent, The Genie Award, for Best Achievement in Direction –she was the first woman to win this. Her latest film, ‘Take This Waltz,’ stars Michelle Williams, Sarah Silverman and another Canadian, Seth Rogen. It has already received a nomination for a festival Best-Picture award. Ms. Polley will be very busy indeed.

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The new 12-part action series based on Luc Besson’s successful film franchise, starring Chris Vance, began filming in Toronto in August and has already seen a lot of action on set. Vance will take over the TV version of the expert driver Frank Martin from Jason Statham and the big screen originals’ co-writer, Luc Besson, is executive producer.

Shooting through this November, the series will debut on Cinemax in 2012. The series’ executive producers also included Fred Fuchs, Robert Cooper, Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie and Alexander Ruemelin; but weeks into shooting, Mallozzi and Mullie cited “creative differences” and left the production.

According to HollywoodReporter.com, British director Steve Shill (Dexter, Desperate Housewives) and veteran supervising producer Karen Wookey has since joined. The Transporter series is a France-Canada international treaty co-production produced by Atlantique Productions and QVF Inc. in association with broadcast partners HBO/Cinemax as well as The Movie Network and Movie Central (Canada), M6 (France) and RTL (Germany).

The ambitious production is the latest in a wave of high-end drama series with money and set locations coming from outside the US. The aim is to captivate both American and European audiences, something that other successful series such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men has struggled to do. American primetime shows seem to translate poorly to the major European markets.

According to a previous HBO press release, this fast-paced series follows the adventures of professional transporter Frank Martin, who can always be counted on to get the job done — discreetly. Operating in a seedy underworld of dangerous criminals and desperate players, his three rules are: Never change the deal, no names, and never open the package. Occasionally, complications arise and rules get broken.

Andrea Osvart (Duplicity) co-stars as Martin’s trusted handler Carla and Francois Berléand reprises his role of Inspector Tarconi from the films. The cast also includes Delphine Chanéac (Splice) in the recurring role of Juliette, a reporter who seems to know a lot about Frank’s work, and Rachel Skarsten (Made…The Movie, Birds of Prey) as Delia, the daughter of someone from Frank’s past.

Last week, Deadline.com could report that there had been a temporary suspension in the series as the title role holder Chris Vance suffered an injury during an action sequence. The delay is expected to last two weeks. “We want to ensure Chris’ return to peak physical condition before putting him back in front of the camera to continue shooting this fast-paced, action-packed series,” said Shill.

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