Bio: Sidney Poitier was born in Miami where his parents regularly travelled to sell their tomato crop from Car Island. The youngest of 8, Poitier dropped out of school at age 13 to help support his family. At 16 he travelled to Miami to live with his brother, after a year he moved to New York City with only 3 dollars. He lied about his age and joined the army for a short while. He found himself back in New York washing dishes, and decided to look for a second job he auditioned for the American Negro Theater unsuccesfully, returned 6 months later and earned himself a role in "Days of Our Youth." Other plays followed before he made the transistion to "No Way Out" his feature-film debut.
Potier would go on to become the first Black actor to receive Movie superstar status and paved the way for Black male actors in Hollywood, while surviving many of the racist pitfalls in the movie industry as well as in his own personal life while living in the US. Poitier became an outspoken Civil Rights activist
Poitier acted in some of the most critical Hollywood films ever including the groundbreaking "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" in 1966 (the first on-screen kiss between a black man & a white woman) He was the first black actor to be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award, for "The Defiant Ones", in 1958, and the first to win the Best Actor nod, for "Lilies on the Field", in 1963.
Later in life Poitier made the transition from actor to director. His first film as a director "Buck and Preacher" starred Harry Belafonte. Poitier also directed several comedies including "Uptown Saturday Night" and "Let's Do It Again" with Bill Cosby, and "Stir Crazy" with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.
In April of 1997, he was appointed as the Bahamaian ambassador to Japan. He has 5 daughters: Beverly, Pamela, Sherry, Anika, & Sydney.
Afiwi.com's complete profile on Sidney Poitier
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