Joanna Shimkus

Joanna Shimkus Poitier (born 30 October 1943) is a Canadian film actress. She is the widow of actor Sidney Poitier, and mother of actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Shimkus was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Joseph Shimkus, a Lithuanian-Jew and Marie Petrie, a Catholic of Irish descent. Her father worked for the Royal Canadian Navy. She attended a c