getActionBar() returning null

I need my actionbar to be ready before setContentView because it is used by the navDrawerFragment but at this point:

public class BaseActivity extends Activity implements NavigationDrawerFragment.NavigationDrawerCallbacks {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_ACTION_BAR);
    Log.d("", getActionBar().toString());
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_base);
}

It is returning null

My theme:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/light_blue</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/dark_blue</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/dark_blue</item>
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@color/white</item>
    <item name="android:positiveButtonText">@color/white</item>
    <item name="android:windowActionBar">true</item>
</style>

and the declaration at manifest:

<activity
    android:name=".controller.activity.BaseActivity"
    android:label="@string/app_name" >
</activity>