Sidney Poitier (born February 20, 1927) is an African-American actor. He was born in Miami, Florida and grew up on Cat Island in the Bahamas. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field and was the first African-American actor to win this award. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2002.

His other films include:

• The Defiant Ones, for which he won the British Academy Award for Best Actor in 1958.
• Porgy and Bess, based on the famous opera, in the title role of Porgy along side Dorothy Dandridge as Bess. His on-screen singing voice was provided by opera singer Robert McFerrin , father of Bobby McFerrin.
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a film about an inter-racial romance and a white liberal's reaction to it
• A Patch of Blue, about a blind white girl and a black man who is moved to help her to a better life
• To Sir, with Love, a fact-based movie about a young teacher in an inner-city neighbourhood
• In the Heat of the Night about a murder investigation in a small Mississippi town.

He acted in the first run of "Raisin in the Sun" on Broadway in 1959, and in its Hollywood adaptation in 1961.

In addition to authoring This Life (1980) and The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000), Poitier has also served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan since April of 1997.

Awards and recognition

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

• Grammy Awards of 2001
  • Rick Harris , John Runnette (producers) & Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man

NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award

• 2001: Sidney Poitier

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special

• 2000: Sidney Poitier, The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn

Kennedy Center Honors

• 1995: Sidney Poitier

AFI Life Achievement Award

• 1992: Sidney Poitier

Golden Globe Awards: Film, Best Actor, Drama

• 1964: Sidney Poitier, Lilies of the Field

Academy Award for Best Actor 

• 1963: Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field
• 1958: Sidney Poitier for The Defiant Ones

BAFTA Award for Best Actor

• 1958: Foreign: Sidney Poitier for The Defiant Ones

Filmography

• From Whence Cometh My Help (1949) (documentary)
• No Way Out (1950)
• Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
• Red Ball Express (1952)
• Go, Man, Go! (1954)
• Blackboard Jungle (1955)
• Good-bye, My Lady (1956)
• Edge of the City (1957)
• Something of Value (1957)
• Band of Angels (1957)
• Virgin Island (1958)
• The Mark of the Hawk (1958)
• The Defiant Ones (1958)
• Porgy and Bess (1959)
• All the Young Men (1960)
• A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
• Paris Blues (1961)
• Pressure Point (1962)
• The Long Ships (1963)
• Lilies of the Field (1963)
• The Bedford Incident (1965)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
• A Patch of Blue (1965)
• The Slender Thread (1965)
• Duel at Diablo (1966)
• To Sir, with Love (1967)
• In the Heat of the Night (1967)
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
• For Love of Ivy (1968)
• The Lost Man (1969)
• (1970) (documentary) (narrator)
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970)
• Brother John (1971)
• The Organization (1971)
• Buck and the Preacher (1972) (also director)
• A Warm December (1973) (also director)
• Uptown Saturday Night (1974) (also director)
• Let's Do It Again (1975) (also director)
• The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
• A Piece of the Action (1977) (also director)
• (1979) (short subject) (narrator)
• Stir Crazy (1980) (director)
• Hanky Panky (1982) (director)
• Fast Forward (1985) (director)
• Bopha! (1986) (documentary) (narrator)
• Shoot to Kill (1988)
• Little Nikita (1988)
• Ghost Dad (1990) (director)
• Sneakers (1992)
• A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
• (1996) (documentary)
• The Jackal (1997)
• (2001) (documentary) (narrator)
• Tell Them Who You Are (2004) (documentary)

External links

• Poitier breaks new ground with Oscar win (BBC, April 13, 1964)