Sydney Tamiia Poitier

Not to be confused with Sidney Poitier, her father.

Sydney Tamiia Poitier
File:Sydney Tamiia Poitier.jpg 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	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Dorian Heartsong (m. 2012)
Children	1 daughter
Parent(s)	Sidney Poitier Joanna Shimkus

Sydney Tamiia Poitier (born 15 November 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. Her mother is of Lithuanian Jewish and Irish descent. She has an older sister, Anika. She also has four older half-sisters, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, and Gina, from her father's first marriage. Poitier's great-uncle has claimed that the Poitier ancestors on her grandfather's side had migrated from Haiti 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.

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

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. However, she left the show after only appearing in four episodes.

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. In 2011, she guest starred on two episodes of Private Practice.

Personal life

Sydney Tamiia Poitier married her husband, musician Adrian Coffey (March 7, 1971) on April 16, 2013. 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	The Twilight Zone	Dr. Leslie Coburn	Episode: "The Placebo Effect"
2003–2004	Joan of Arcadia	Rebecca Askew	8 episodes
2004	The 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	Segment: "Death Proof"
2007	The 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

External links

• Sydney Tamiia Poitier at the Internet Movie Database