In 2019 she won the Contemporary Pacific Art Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards.[.
After touring New Zealand in 2019, the play Wild Dogs Under My Skirt by Tusiata Avia and directed by Polataivao was presented by the SoHo Playhouse in New York off-Broadway in January 2020.
For her role in Night Shift Polataivao won Best Actress at the 2013 24fps International Short Film Festival in Texas,and the StarNow Best Actor award at the 2012 New Zealand Show Me Shorts Film Festival.
