Polly Kemp

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Polly Kemp (born 1963 or 1964) is a British television and theatre actor. She grew up in Keswick, Cumbria. Her mother was born in Lissarda, County Cork, Ireland, and Kemp herself owned a house in Leap, County Cork for a time. She moved to London at 18 and worked as a nanny for the friends of her father, Judi Dench and Michael Williams. Kemp trained at Drama Centre London and graduated in 1988.

Her theatre work includes performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Vic, and Hampstead Theatre, and she is a member of The Pilgrim Players, a Shakespearean group. On television, her credits include The Thick of It, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and Death in Paradise.

In 2011, Kemp took part in a BBC Radio 3 Red Nose Show for Comic Relief that set a Guinness World Records title for the largest kazoo ensemble. In 2015 she co-founded the 50:50 Equal Representation for Actresses (50:50 ERA) campaign with Elizabeth Berrington. In 2020, the co-founders won The Equity Award for Services to Theatre at the WhatsOnStage Awards. She also co-founded Her Story Productions, a program to support female playwrights based at the Jermyn Street Theatre. In 2004 she married fellow actor Robert Whitelock.