Sydney Tamiia Poitier

Not to be confused with Sidney Poitier, her father.
Sydney Tamiia Poitier

At the premiere of Grindhouse in Austin, Texas, March 2007
Born (1973-11-15) November 15, 1973
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Other names Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Sydney Poitier
Alma mater Tisch School of the Arts (BA)
Stella Adler Studio of Acting
Occupation Actress
Years active 1998present
Spouse(s) Dorian Heartsong (m. 2012)
Children 1 daughter
Parent(s) Sidney Poitier
Joanna Shimkus

Sydney Tamiia Poitier (born November 15, 1973) is an American television and film actress.

Early life and family

Born in Los Angeles, Poitier is the daughter of Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier and Canadian former actress Joanna Shimkus.[1] Her mother is of Lithuanian Jewish[2] and Irish descent.[3] She has an older sister, Anika. She also has four older half-sisters, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, and Gina, from her father's first marriage.[4] Poitier's great-uncle has claimed that the Poitier ancestors on her grandfather's side had migrated from Haiti[5] and were probably part of the runaway slaves who had established maroon communities throughout the Bahamas, including Cat Island. He mentions that the surname Poitier is a French name, and there were no white Poitiers from the Bahamas.[6]

Poitier attended Tisch School of the Arts where she earned a bachelor's degree in acting.[1] She also studied at Stella Adler Studio of Acting.[7][8]

Career

Poitier began her career of acting in the late 1990s. In 2001, she landed her first role on television in the NBC drama series First Years. The series was canceled after three episodes. In 2003, she starred in the UPN sitcom Abby. That series was also canceled during its first season. Later that same year, she had a recurring role in Joan of Arcadia, where she played Rebecca Askew, the love interest of Joan's older brother, Kevin (Jason Ritter). She was also a regular on the first season of Veronica Mars.[9] However, she left the show after only appearing in four episodes because of budget cuts.

In 2007, Poitier starred in Death Proof, director Quentin Tarantino's segment of the movie Grindhouse, as radio DJ Jungle Julia. The next year, she had a co-starring role in the new Knight Rider series, as FBI Agent Carrie Rivai.[10] In 2011, she guest starred on two episodes of Private Practice.

Personal life

Sydney Tamiia Poitier married her husband, musician Dorian Heartsong on 2012. Their daughter A'Zalia Delancey Coffey was born on May 14, 2015.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Park Day Sophia Johnson
1998 Free of Eden Nicole Turner TV movie
1999 True Crime Jane March
1999 Noah's Ark Ruth TV movie
2001 MacArthur Park Linda
2001 First Years Riley Kessler 9 episodes
2001 Happy Birthday Hannah
2003 Abby Abigail Newman 10 episodes
2003 Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone Dr. Leslie Coburn Episode: "The Placebo Effect"
2003–2004 Joan of Arcadia Rebecca Askew 8 episodes
2004 Devil Cats, TheThe Devil Cats Hellena Handbasket
2004 Veronica Mars Mallory Dent 4 episodes: (appearance, credited for 7 episodes)
"Credit Where Credit's Due"
"You Think You Know Somebody"
"Return of the Kane"
"The Girl Next Door"
2005 Nine Lives Vanessa
2006 Grey's Anatomy Deborah Fleiss Episode: "17 Seconds"
2006 Hood of Horror Wanda
2007 Grindhouse Jungle Julia Lucai Segment: "Death Proof"
2007 List, TheThe List Cecile
2008 Blues Dee
2008–2009 Knight Rider Carrie Rivai 12 episodes
2010 Page 36 Miss Gray Short film
2010 Yard Sale Kate Butler Short film
2011 Big Tweet Big Tweet's Girl Short film
2011 Private Practice Michelle Episode: "Love and Lies"
2011 Supah Ninjas Katherine Sharp/Katara Episode: "Katara"
2012 Hawaii Five-0 Grace Tilwell Episode: "I Ka Wa Mamua (In a Time Past)"
2012 Kendra (web series) 5 episodes
2014 Chicago P.D. Detective Sumner since episode 8
2014 Flawed Jana Conley Short film on MMA
2015 Too Late Veronica

References

  1. 1 2 McCann, Bob (2010). Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. McFarland. p. 268. ISBN 0-786-43790-1.
  2. Personalities - Shimkus An Anti-Actress, St. Petersburg Times, 20 Jul 1971 at News.Google.com
  3. "The Naked Truth Is: Joanna Isn't". The Calgary Herald. Women's News Service. September 4, 1970. p. 15. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  4. Nipson, Herbert (May 1988). "Sidney Poitier Is Back". Ebony. 43 (7): 40. ISSN 0012-9011.
  5. "Bio - Sidney Poitier". Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  6. Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  7. "Sidney Poitier And Daughter Sydney Maniia Star In TV Movie About Leaving The Projects And Wanting A Better Life In 'Free of Eden'". Jet. 95 (12): 64. ISSN 0021-5996.
  8. "Sydney Tamiia Poitier Tackles Racy Sports World and Rocky Love Life As Star Of New TV Show 'Abby'". Jet. 103 (5): 60. ISSN 0021-5996.
  9. "Poitier on a mission to UPN's 'Mars'". Chicago Tribune. August 2, 2004. p. 46.
  10. Warn, Sarah (2008-02-18). "Sydney Tamiia Poitier Plays Queer in the 'Knight Rider' TV Movie". AfterEllen.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sydney Tamiia Poitier.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.