Happy 93rd Birthday, Sidney Poitier

Born in Miami, Florida on February 20, 1927 to Bahamian parents, he was raised in the Bahamas, then moved to New York when he was 16.  There he joined the North American Negro Theatre, and soon landed his breakthrough film role in The Blackboard Jungle (1955). 

In 1958 he starred with Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones, for which he received his first Oscar nomination and became the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 1963 he starred in Lilies of the Field, and with that became the first African American to win the Best Actor Oscar - the only one until Denzel Washington won for Training Day (2001), 38 years later. 

He also received critical acclaim for A Raisin in the Sun (1961) and A Patch of Blue (1965), and continued to break ground in three successful 1967 films, each dealing with issues of race and race relations: To Sir, with Love; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night, making him the top box-office star of that year. He also produced and directed several films during his career.

In addition to his Oscar for Best Actor, he has received many other honors throughout his career. In 1974 he received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.  In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him 22nd on their list of Greatest Male Stars of classic Hollywood cinema (he's currently the only living actor on the list).  In 2002, he received an Honorary Oscar, in recognition of his "remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."  In 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor.  And in 2016, he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship for outstanding lifetime achievement in film.

In his private life he has dedicated himself to helping make the world a better place.  He served as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan from 1997 until 2007. From 2002 to 2007, he was concurrently the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO.  He's an exceptional talent and man who will go down in the history books for his remarkable accomplishments.

Happy Birthday to the amazing Sidney Poitier.