LOS ANGELES – Greek-American Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive officer and chief content officer of Netflix was featured in The Hollywood Reporter (THR) for his help funding the $484 million Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The new Renzo Piano-designed museum opened officially on September 30 after a star-studded gala on September 25. Sarandos is also the museum’s board chair. He and his wife Nicole Avant, along with Sidney Poitier’s daughter Sydney Poitier, spearheaded fundraising for the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby, named in honor of the renowned Oscar-winning actor.

Sarandos, whose paternal grandfather came from Samos, told THR, “I was always shocked that there was not a movie museum in Hollywood. There’s great cinema museums all over the world and not one in the heart of movie-making. That’s why it’s been so sexy and intriguing for people for 90 years to build it.”

The Sphere at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, designed by Renzo Piano. Photo: Downtowngal, via Wikimedia Commons

“When he and his wife, Avant, were looking for a way to contribute, their friend Irena Medavoy suggested a tribute to Sidney Poitier, the 94-year-old screen legend and civil rights activist who had been like a godfather to Avant when she was growing up,” THR reported, adding that “they involved the actor’s daughter, Sydney Poitier, in a campaign to name the lobby in his honor.”

Avant told THR, “I don’t think it’s coincidental that it’s the entry because Sidney represents the entry, he opened the doors for so many others.”