Sydney Tamiia Poitier's sisters; Anika,Sherri and Pamela Poitier.Photo: Azaleta Ishmael Newry, The Bahamas Weekly News Team

Nassau Bahamas - On December 8th 2012, the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) presented its prestigious Shining Star award to Sydney Tamiia Poitier. BIFF presents this award to the actor or actress whose noteworthy performances have put them on the path for elite and lasting stardom in the industry. BIFF founder Leslie Vanderpool said of Tamiia, “Nobody embodies the spirit of BIFF’s Shining Star Award more than Sydney Tamiia Poitier. She is one of the most gracious, exciting and multi-talented performers who excels in Film and TV. We know the Bahamian community will embrace her and help us celebrate her past, current and, most certainly, future successes. As anyone who has seen Sydney’s collection performances can attest, Sydney is definitely one of the most gorgeous and talented actors who’s star is shining brightly and rising rapidly.”

Leslie Vanderpool started the event off with a short intro where she said of Sydney Tamiia, "It is important to recognize the achievements of an actor or actress who has succeeded in their art, whether for Television, Film or Theater, Sydney has done it all."

Also on hand to share in their sister's achievement were Sydney Tamiia's sisters; Anika, Pamela & Sherri Poitier. Pamela Poitier spoke on their behalf saying "We're really very proud of Sydney Tamiia Poitier...We support each other, we're a very supportive family, we're all girls and we are all very creative in our own right and its been really fun to see us grow and Sydney has grown the most out of all of us and we're really very proud of her."

World renown film critic, Jeffery Lyons conducted a conversation with Sydney Tamiia Poitier. The Bahamas Weekly news team shares her response to a question pertaining to the influence and advise that her father, Sir Sidney Poitier gave her about show business. Sydney Tamiia said that the most important piece of life and acting advise given to her by her dad was ' to be the captain of your own ship'. Tamiia clarified that directive by saying " When you get in this business there are gonna be a million people pulling you in a million different directions and wanting a million different things from you. You can't lose sight of who you are and what your artistic vision is and what the work is. Sydney spoke of her challenge being half white and half African American "There's a lot of, she's not black enough or urban enough or she's too black or she's too urban or we're looking for ethnically ambiguous, it's the only job in the world where you can say things like that". The audience responded with a loud outburst of laughter when Sydney Tamiia went on to say, "You could never walk into the HR of a company and they say; well, we're not going black with this position right now."