SIDNEY POITIER Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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SIDNEY POITIER

Name: Sidney Poitier                                                               
Born: 20 February 1927 Miami, Florida                                               
                                                                                   
Sidney Poitier (born February 20, 1927), is an Academy                             
Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Grammy-winning Bahamian-American actor, film       
director, and author. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in       
American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping,       
gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in   
the Western world.                                                                 
                                                                                   
In 1963, Poitier became the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best       
Actor - for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this               
achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three very well         
received films - To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's       
Coming to Dinner - making him the top box office star of that year.                 
                                                                                   
Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as Uptown Saturday Night,     
and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard   
Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award,     
Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive   
the Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his             
remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."