Joanna Shimkus

Joanna Shimkus, Lady Poitier (born 30 October 1943) is a former Canadian actress. She is married to Bahamian-American actor and diplomat Sir Sidney Poitier. Shimkus was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a father of Lithuanian origin and a mother of Irish descent. Her father worked for the Royal Canadian Navy. She attended a convent school and was brought up in Montreal, Quebec. 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...