Who is Sydney Tamiia Poitier?
Sydney was born in Los Angeles, California USA, on 15 November 1973 – her zodiac sign is Scorpio, and she holds American nationality. She’s an actress and movie producer, with close to 40 acting credits to her name, while she’s probably still known best for her portrayal of Jungle Julia in the 2007 action thriller film “Death Proof”, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and which starred Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell and Rosario Dawson. It follows two groups of women who are being stalked by a stuntman; the movie was nominated for eight awards.
Early life and education
Sydney was raised in Los Angeles alongside her older sister Anika, by their mother Joanna Marie Poitier and father Sidney Poitier; Sidney was a noted Bahamian-American actor and movie director, while Joanna was a Canadian actress. Sydney also has four older paternal half-sisters, from her father’s first marriage.
Sydney studied at a local high school, and was 16 years old when she became interested in acting, after her drama teacher cast her to appear in her first school play; she then appeared in nearly all of the school plays, until she matriculated in 1991.
Sydney continued her education at New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in acting in 1995; she also studied at Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
Roles in movies
Sydney made her debut film appearance in the 1998 drama “Park Day”, while a couple of her following roles were in the 1998 drama “Free of Eden”, the 1999 mystery crime drama “True Crime”, and the 2001 action drama “MacArthur Park”.
In 2004, Sydney starred as Hellena Handbasket in the comedy “The Devil Cats”, written and directed by Anika Poitier, and which also starred Leandro DiMonriva and Resmine Atis. It follows the all-girl rock ‘n’ roll band The Devil Cats from Los Angeles, and the movie won a Sonoma Valley Film Festival Jury Award for Best Lounge Narrative Feature.
Some of Sydney’s notable performances in the remainder of the decade were in the 2005 drama “Nine Lives”, the 2007 action horror thriller “Grindhouse”, and the 2008 drama “Blues”.
#FilmFact: Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Death Proof, Too Late) is the daughter of Sidney Poitier. TOO LATE opens Fri 5/9! pic.twitter.com/sp7RYTaPHc
— Brattle Theatre (@BrattleTheatre) May 1, 2016
In 2015, she played Veronica in the mystery thriller drama “Too Late”, written and directed by Dennis Hauck, and which starred Dichen Lachman, Natalie Zea and Rider Strong. The movie follows a private investigator who’s been hired to find a missing woman, and it won one of the four awards for which it was nominated.
Two of Sydney’s most recent movie roles have been in the 2015 animated action horror “Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn” (voice role) and the 2017 horror thriller “Clinical”.
Roles in TV series
Sydney made her debut TV series appearance in the 1999 romantic adventure mini-series “Noah’s Ark”, and it was in 2001 that she gained recognition, when cast to play Riley Kessler, one of the main characters in the drama “First Years”. It was created by Jill Gordon, also starred Samantha Mathis and Ken Marino, and follows the lives of several law students.
Sydney portrayed the main character Abby Newman in all the 10 episodes of the 2003 comedy “Abby”, and next played Rebecca Askew in eight episodes of the 2004 crime comedy drama “Joan of Arcadia”. She had supporting roles in the 2004 mystery crime drama “Veronica Mars” and the 2008 adventure mystery thriller “Knight Rider”, while the following years saw her appear in an episode or two of a couple of popular series, such as the action adventure comedy “Supah Ninjas”, the romantic comedy drama “Private Practice”, and the action crime drama “Hawaii Five-0”.
The year 2014 saw Sydney play Detective Mia Sumners in the action crime drama “Chicago P. D.”, created by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, and which starred Jason Beghe, Jesse Lee Soffer and Patrick John Flueger. It follows the Chicago Police Department’s Intelligence Unit and uniformed police officers, the series is on-going, and has won four of the 10 awards for which it’s been nominated.
Most recently, in 2018 and 2019, Sydney played Detective Sam Shaw in the crime comedy drama “Carter”.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1942387919134005
Other credits
Sydney produced the 2004 comedy movie “The Devil Cats”.
She was featured in the 2009 short documentary video “Knight Rider: The Icon Reborn”.
Sydney’s made a guest appearance in a couple of talk-shows, such as “Up Close with Carrie Keagan”, “Celebrity Page” and “Firecracker Department”.
Awards and nominations
Sydney’s been nominated for two awards: a 2005 Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Performance for “Nine Lives”, shared with colleagues, and a 2008 Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, for her performance in “The List”.
Love life and husband
Sydney hasn’t shared a lot about her love life with the public, but it’s widely known that she’s today a married woman, as well as a mother. She exchanged vows with American actor and musician Dorian Heartsong in June 2012, in a private ceremony attended by around 50 of their closest friends and family members; Dorian’s probably still known best for having sung the soundtrack in the 2001 mystery crime movie “The Glass House”. and the 2002 action adventure thriller film “Extreme Ops”.
Sydney gave birth to her and Dorian’s daughter in either the second half of 2014 or the first half of 2015; the girl is being kept away from the media’s attention by her parents.
Sydney hasn’t mentioned any other men whom she’s perhaps been with, so as of July 2022, she’s married to Dorian Heartsong, and they have a daughter together.
Hobbies and interesting facts
Sydney’s quite active on Instagram, and is today followed by more than 10,000 people, while she’s uploaded nearly 100 pictures onto the network, the majority of which feature her during her everyday life.
She’s an advocate for equal rights of all humans, and today supports the movement Black Lives Matter, including walking several peaceful protests.
Sydney enjoys spending her spare time in nature, and many of her Instagram pictures feature her resting deep in the woods or high up in the mountains.
She’s passionate about travelling, and has been to more than 15 US states, as well as to a couple of European countries, while her dream travel destination is Barcelona, Spain.
Sydney has her own favorite actor and actress, Will Smith and Julia Roberts, while some of her favorite movies are “Men in Black”, “I, Robot” and “Independence Day”.
Age, height and net worth
Sydney’s age is 48. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 6ft (1.8m) and she weighs around 155lbs (70kgs).
As of July 2022, Sydney’s net worth stands at over $5 million.
