Sidney L. Poitier KBE ( / ˈ p w ɑː t i eɪ / ; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian-American retired actor, film director, activist, and ambassador. In 1964, Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor becoming the first black male and Bahamian actor to win that award. He is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, and the oldest living and earliest surviving Best Actor Academy Award winner. From 1997 to 2007, he served as the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan.