Who's Who: Famous Sy(i)dneys Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier's parents were from the Bahamas, however, he was born prematurely while they were visiting Miami, Florida, giving him citizenship in both the United States and the Bahamas. Voted in 1999 by the American Film Institute as one of the twenty-five Greatest Male Stars of classic Hollywood cinema, Poitier won both an Academy Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for "Lilies of the Field" (1963), a movie about a handyman who helps a group of nuns build a chapel. The director of a number of movies, including "Stir Crazy" (1980), Poitier has also received several civic awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) in the United States and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1974).

Answer: Sydney Brenner

Sydney Brenner, a citizen of South Africa, has made several contributions in the field of molecular biology, including working on the mapping of the nature of the genetic code with Francis Crick. After successfully using "Caenorhabditis elegans", a roundworm, as a model organism for his genetic studies, Brenner shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2002) with H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston.

He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Royal Medal from the Royal Society (1974) and King Faisal International Prize in Medicine (1992).

Answer: Sydney Leroux

Sydney Leroux (a female Sydney!) was born in British Columbia and originally played in Canadian teams; in fact, she was part of a select team that won at the Canada Games in 2005. At the age of fifteen, however, she relocated to the United Sates after deciding that she wanted to play for the U.S. woman's national soccer team. Since then, she has played college soccer at UCLA and was chosen as the first pick in the 2012 WPS Draft by the Atlanta Beat.

The team, however, suspended operations before she could play in a game and she has since played for several teams, including the Seattle Sounders (2012), Boston Breakers (2013), Seattle Reign FC (2014).

In 2012 she was the youngest member of the U.S. women's national soccer team that won the gold medal in the London Olympic games.

Answer: Sidney Sheldon

Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1917, Sheldon moved to California at an early age to pursue a career in writing. After serving briefly in the military during WWII, he moved to New York City, where he made a living writing musicals and screenplays. He found success on Broadway, and moved back to California where he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his work, "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer", in 1947.

He had a successful career writing and producing television shows including "The Patty Duke Show" (1963-66) and "I Dream of Jeanie" (1965-70); he subsequently became a novelist, writing thirteen novels from 1970-2004 and an autobiography, "The Other Side of Me", in 2005.

Answer: Sidney Farber

Unable to begin a medical program of study in the United States (Jewish students were not accepted into medical schools), Farber began his medical study in Germany, but finished at the Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1927. He continued his study in pathology and became the first full time pathologist at Boston Children's Hospital in 1929, working with children who had leukemia.

Many doctors had believed that there was little that could be done to help children with the deadly disease; Farber, however, found some success using a drug called aminopterin.

He is called the "Father of Modern Chemotherapy" because he showed that remission in leukemia could be achieved. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, still in operation today, was founded near Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 1947 as the result of his fund-raising efforts.

Answer: Sidney Howard

Born in California, Howard served with the American Field Service during WWI. His first play that was produced on Broadway, "Swords" (1921), was not a huge success, however, by 1925 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with his play, "They Knew What They Wanted".

It later became a Broadway musical called "The Most Happy Fella". In 1940, after his untimely death a year earlier at the age of 39, he won a posthumous Academy Award for his screenplay, "Gone with the Wind". In 1981 he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Answer: Sydney Omarr

As a young boy, Sidney Kimmelman was said to have been interested in magic; at the age of fifteen he camed his name to Omarr after seeing the movie "Shanghai Gesture" (1941), that had a character with the same name. His interest spread from magic shows to numerology to astrology.

After serving in the army during WWII, he studied to be a journalist and worked as a reporter for the "United Press". Eventually he wrote a column, "Sun Sign Horoscope", that was syndicated in over 200 newspapers by the "Los Angeles Times".

In addition, every year he wrote twelve annual forecasts - one for each zodiac sign - as well as one overall book. According to an article in the "Los Angeles Times" by Louis Sahagun, these books sold over 50 million copies before Omarr's death.

Answer: Sydney Laurence

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Laurence moved to Alaska sometime around 1903 and is considered to have been the first professionally trained artist to establish himself there. It is unknown why he chose to abandon his family after a successful career of exhibiting work at the Royal Society of British Artists and Paris Salon.

However, he lived a difficult life in Alaska as a prospector, before moving to Anchorage in 1915 to focus on his art. Laurence painted a variety of subjects depicting Alaskan life, including ships, landscapes, and totem poles, as well as miners and trappers going about their everyday routines; he is probably best known, however, for his painting, "Mount McKinley" (1937).

Answer: Sidney Crosby

Born in Nova Scotia, Sidney Crosby grew up in a hockey family and is said to have begun playing, shooting pucks into a net, at the age of two and learning how to skate when he was three! He was selected as the first overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, commonly called the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes, by the Pittsburgh Penguins, and has continued to play for the team through 2018.

He wears the number "87" to reflect both his birthdate (8-7-87) and the pay ($8.7 million) that was listed in his 2007 contract.

His team won the Stanley Cup in 2009, 2016, and 2017, and Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the MVP during the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2016 and 2017.

Answer: Sidney Bechet

Born in New Orleans in 1897, Sidney Bechet learned to play the clarinet at a young age, joining his brother's band at a family gathering at the age of six! As a young man he played with many groups, and eventually traveled to New York City, where he joined Will Marion Cook's Syncopated Orchestra.

His association with this group took him to London, where he played at the Royal Philharmonic Hall and found that he was interested in playing the soprano saxophone. Although his career was interrupted at times due to personal problems, Bechet is considered to be one of the first important jazz soloists, both playing and composing hit music, such as "Texas Moaner Blues" (1924) with Louis Armstrong, and "Petite Fleur", which became an international hit in 1959.