Joanna Shimkus Poitier (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian retired
actress. She is the wife of Bahamian-American actor and diplomat
Sidney Poitier, and mother of actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier.Shimkus
was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a Lithuanian-Jewish father and a
Catholic mother of Irish descent. Her father worked for the Royal
Canadian Navy. She attended a convent school and was brought up in
Montreal. She went to Paris at age nineteen, where she worked as a
fashion model and soon attracted the attention of movie people on the
lookout for new talent.She made her debut in 1964, in Jean Aurel's
film De l'amour. She was then noticed by film director Robert Enrico,
who selected her to appear in three of his films; Les aventuriers
(1967), opposite Alain Delon and Lino Ventura, Tante Zita (1968) and
Ho! (1968).
actress. She is the wife of Bahamian-American actor and diplomat
Sidney Poitier, and mother of actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier.Shimkus
was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a Lithuanian-Jewish father and a
Catholic mother of Irish descent. Her father worked for the Royal
Canadian Navy. She attended a convent school and was brought up in
Montreal. She went to Paris at age nineteen, where she worked as a
fashion model and soon attracted the attention of movie people on the
lookout for new talent.She made her debut in 1964, in Jean Aurel's
film De l'amour. She was then noticed by film director Robert Enrico,
who selected her to appear in three of his films; Les aventuriers
(1967), opposite Alain Delon and Lino Ventura, Tante Zita (1968) and
Ho! (1968).
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