Joanna Shimkus

Acting

Joanna Shimkus

Born

1943-10-30 (82)

Place of birth

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Known for

Acting

Credits

19 titles

Joanna Marie Shimkus (born 30 October 1943) is a Canadian film actress. She is the widow of actor Sidney Poitier and mother of actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Joanna Marie Shimkus was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Joseph Shimkus, a Jewish father of Lithuanian descent, and Marie Petrie, a Roman Catholic of Irish descent. Her father worked for the Royal Canadian Navy. She attended a convent school and was brought up in Montreal. She made her debut in 1964 in Jean Aurel's film De l'amour. (She was first featured in Jean-Luc Godard's short "Montparnasse-Levallois," his contribution to the anthology film Six in Paris; it was shot in December 1963, but the film was not released until 1965.) Sh…

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 3 titles

1960s · 12 titles

The Last Adventure poster
6.9

Two adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that costs Manu his pilot's license. With seeming contrition, the jokesters tell Roland and Manu about a crashed plane lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Congo stuffed with riches. The adventurers set off to find the loot.

The Last Adventure

1967

Boom! poster
5.9

Secluding herself in an island mansion in the Mediterranean with her servants and nurses, the wealthy Flora "Sissy" Goforth prepares for her impending death -- and she isn't the only one who's waiting. Known for his attraction to the dying rich, poet Chris Flanders ingratiates himself with the wilting Sissy. Although her friend explains Flanders' "Angel of Death" nature to her, Sissy embraces the vulture-like Flanders.

Boom!

1968

The Lost Man poster
4.3

A gang of black militants plots to rob a factory to finance their "revolutionary struggle."

The Lost Man

1969

Ho ! poster
6.3

Race driver who has lost his membership card becomes the chauffeur of a gangsters pack

Ho !

1968

Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? poster
6.5

A model tells a television crew about her dreams of a life with prince charming all while fending off the lecherous advances of a horde of men.

Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?

1966

All About Loving poster
4.7

Serge follows Hélène in the crowded streets of Paris and manages to seduce her. Werther takes Sophie to her dentist, Raoul, who tries to seduce her too.

All About Loving

1964

Woman in Chains poster
7.0

Gallery director Stanislas bolsters the development of modern art with his collection of surprising works. His newest acquisition is a sculpture by Gilbert, whose wife Josée is captivated by Stanislas. But unbeknownst to her, Stanislas is amassing photographs of a very perverse, disturbed nature.

Woman in Chains

1968

Zita poster
5.0

Because "Tante Zita" main theme is death: a twenty-year old girl, Annie (Shimkus) lives with her mother and her aunt (both played by first-class actresses Suzanne Flon and Katina Paxinou). The auntie is dying, and for the first time in her life, Annie has to cope with death. One night, she finds it too hard to bear, and leaving home where the old woman is suffering, she begins to hang around in Paris. She will meet people, and, from dusk to dawn, she will learn to leave her childhood behind and to grow into a woman.

Zita

1968

Six in Paris poster
6.6

Six vignettes set in different sections of Paris, by six directors. St. Germain des Pres (Douchet), Gare du Nord (Rouch), Rue St. Denis (Pollet), and Montparnasse et Levallois (Godard) are stories of love, flirtation and prostitution; Place d'Etoile (Rohmer) concerns a haberdasher and his umbrella; and La Muette (Chabrol), a bourgeois family and earplugs.

Six in Paris

1965

The Uninvited poster
6.1

When her husband returns from his work abroad with a guest, a young girl, his wife suspects a liaison. She leaves her home. Her boss takes her to the Côte d'Azur. They get closer during the long voyage and the man invites her to his marital home.

The Uninvited

1969

Montparnasse et Levallois poster
4.5

A Canadian woman with two working class boyfriends writes letters to them, breaking off with one of them while professing her love for the other, but fears that she mixed up the letters.

Montparnasse et Levallois

1965

Idoli controluce poster
10.0

Having been assigned by his publisher to write a biography of Omar Sivori, the great footballer, Ugo Sanfelice heads for Torino. Given he is not very knowledgeable about soccer, Ugo tries -several times but in vain - to obtain an appointment from Sivori. Forced to fall back upon persons being or having been in contact with the elusive star, he gets to know young forward-center Moretti and soon becomes friendly with him. The young man confides in him and tells him the whole truth about his own "career" : the training in a small provincial team, the promising debut alongside Sivori, the desertion of his fiancée, the premature decline due to a dissolute life. When Sanfelice finally meets Sivori, he finds that the star is no match - humanely at least - for Moretti and he gives up writing the book at all.

Idoli controluce

1965

Series credits