Pollyanna McIntosh grew up in Portugal and Colombia before returning to her birthplace of Scotland, where she first began performing, on stage, at The Edinburgh Festival. At 16, she left for London and soon became involved in indie filmmaking (her first paid gig was as a stoner in Irvine Welsh's The Acid House (1998)) and theatre, both as an actress and director. A move to Los Angeles in 2004 brought on more theatre, including a production of "The Woolgatherer", in which she directed Anne Dudek (a regular on Mad Men (2007)/Big Love (2006)) and David Dayan Fisher (a regular on 24 (2001)/NCIS (2003)) to great reviews. She then landed her first US movie role as the manipulative, born-again Christian, "Stacy", in Headspace (2005). It was as the wild "Thumper Wint" in the comedy, Sex and Death 101 (2007) (Simon Baker/Winona Ryder), by Heathers (1988) writer Daniel Waters, that the critics began to take note of her talent, citing a unique blend of powerful sexuality and irreverent humor. Working in both LA and London, Exam (2009) was next, BAFTA-nominated as Outstanding British Debut and winner of Best Independent at the Santa Barbara Film Fest, the film's critics noted Pollyanna's performance was "smart, sassy and sexy in equal parts....the emotional center of the film" praised her capacity to find the "emotional vulnerability" of her seemingly tough and ambitious character. GQ simply stated "stunning Pollyanna McIntosh is an enormously talented actress". Como Quien No Quiere La Cosa (2013) (As if you Don't Like it!), is a hilarious South American farce in which she plays Brit comedian Trevor Lock's disgruntled wife. Shot in Peru, she speaks Spanish throughout. In Burke and Hare (2010), directed by John Landis, she plays Isla Fisher's bestie with Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Jessica Hynes, Tom Wilkinson and Tim Curry. Her demanding turn as the lead in Lucky McKee's The Woman (2011) made shock waves at Sundance 2011, brought rave reviews and topped the New York Times readers' favorite movies poll. For her performance, she was awarded three Best Actress awards, including Total Film's Frightfest Award and Fright Meter's. As the female lead in the BBC political comedy, Bob Servant Independent (2013), starring Brian Cox, she played the professionally critical "Philippa Edwards", a very different sort of scary. In festival darling, Love Eternal (2013), she plays the female lead as a suicidal grieving mother. In the raucous Filth (2013), she played opposite James McAvoy and Jamie Bell, in the adaptation of Irvine Welsh's balls-out novel as the lusty Size Queen. Two successful British thrillers that see Pollyanna go from vulnerable to kick ass are White Settlers (2014), (known in the USA as The Bloodlands) and Let Us Prey also starring Game of Thrones' Liam Cunningham. In Sundance TV's Hap and Leonard also starring James Purefoy, Michael Kenneth Williams and Christina Hendricks, Pollyanna is nothing but kick ass as the neon-clad psycho killer, Angel. In US indy comedies Prevertere and The Famous Joe Project Pollyanna played it characteristically unsafe once again. Possibly her strangest role yet has been as Bobby in Ding Dong, teaming up once again with Lucky McKee for the 2014 anthology film Tales of Halloween. Pollyanna will next be seen in Blood on Wheels as the vicious biker gang leader Trigga. The film is produced by James Franco.

Pollyanna McIntosh, née le 15 mars 1979 en Écosse, est un mannequin et actrice écossaise. Pollyanna McIntosh commence son métier d'actrice à l'âge de seize ans, apparaissant à Londres dans quelques productions indépendantes au cinéma et au théâtre. En 2004, elle se rend à Los Angeles et dirige la production théâtrale The Woolgatherer avec Anne Dudek et David Dyan Fisher. En 2005, elle obtient son premier rôle cinématographique dans le film Headspace, que suivent en 2007 la comédie Tous les nombres du sexe et le thriller 9 Lives of Mara dans lequel elle interprète le rôle de la protagoniste. En 2009, elle est Brunette dans le thriller Exam, de Stuart Hazeldine et est proposée aux BAFTA Awards 2010 et aux Raindance Award pour les British Independent Films Awards 2009. En 2011, elle joue dans le film d'horreur Offspring le rôle d'une femme cannibale, rôle qu'elle reprend dans The Woman pour lequel elle est proposée au prix de la meilleure actrice au Fangoria Chainsaw Awards.

En même temps, Pollyanna McIntosh continue à faire une carrière dans le monde de la mode. En 2004, elle est proposée au titre de mannequin de l'année par la revue britannique The Face, et apparait dans le Calendrier Pirelli au mois de décembre 2004, photographiée par Nick Knight. En outre, elle paraît sur UK Vogue et travaille avec le photographe David Bailey pour la campagne publicitaire des magasins Evans et pour son livre de photos Bailey's Democracy. En 2016, elle joue Angel dans Hap and Leonard. En 2017, elle est recrutée par la série à succès The Walking Dead et apparaît au cours de la saison 7 pour incarner Jadis, chef d'une communauté mystérieuse appelée "La Décharge" ou "Garbage Kids" (en V.O), qui s'alliera aux côtés du grand Negan et ses terribles Sauveurs.