Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
July 15, 1961
Place of Birth:
Longview, Texas, USA
Social Media
Forest Whitaker
Biography
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
After making his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Whitaker went on to earn a reputation for intensive character study work for films, such as Platoon (1986), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bird (1988), The Crying Game (1992), Phenomenon (1996), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), The Great Debaters (2007), The Butler (2013), Arrival (2016), and Respect (2021). He has also appeared in blockbusters, such as Panic Room (2002), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) as Saw Gerrera, and Black Panther (2018) as Zuri. For his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the British historical drama film The Last King of Scotland (2006), Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Whitaker made his directorial debut with the television film Strapped (1993), and directed the films Waiting to Exhale (1995), Hope Floats (1998), and First Daughter (2004).
Apart from his film career, Whitaker is also known for his humanitarian work and activism. In 2011, he was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, later receiving a promotion to Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, and serves as the CEO of Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), a non-profit outreach program.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Forest Whitaker, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The King of Kings | Peter (voice) |
| 2025 | Havoc | Lawrence Beaumont |
| 2025 | Andor Season 2 | A Special Look | Saw Gerrera (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2024 | Seaweed Stories | Narrator (voice) |
| 2023 | Big George Foreman | Doc Broadus |
| 2023 | to Crinkle their Wrist, Perfumed Splendour | Ghost Dog (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Andor: A Disney+ Day Special Look | Saw Gerrera (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2022 | Prophets of Change | Narrator |
| 2022 | Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend | Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | Respect | C. L. Franklin |
| 2020 | Burden | Reverend Kennedy |
| 2020 | Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey | Jeronicus Jangle |
| 2020 | Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King | Self |
| 2020 | Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times | Self |
| 2020 | A Fall from Grace | |
| 2019 | Finding Steve McQueen | Howard Lambert |
| 2018 | Black Panther | Zuri |
| 2018 | City of Lies | Jack Jackson |
| 2018 | The Forgiven | Desmond Tutu |
| 2018 | Triumph: The Untold Story of Perry Wallace | Narrator (voice) |
| 2018 | How It Ends | Tom |
| 2018 | Sorry to Bother You | First Equisapien / Demarius |
| 2017 | The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' | Self |
| 2017 | Xenolinguistics: Understanding 'Arrival' | Self |
| 2016 | Arrival | Colonel Weber |
| 2016 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Saw Gerrera |
| 2016 | I Am You | Narrator (voice) |
| 2015 | Southpaw | Titus 'Tick' Wills |
| 2015 | Dope | The Narrator (voice) |
| 2014 | Repentance | Angel |
| 2014 | Two Men in Town | William Garnett |
| 2014 | Taken 3 | Inspector Frank Dotzler |
| 2014 | Food Chains | |
| 2013 | The Last Stand | Agent John Bannister |
| 2013 | The Butler | Cecil Gaines |
| 2013 | Out of the Furnace | Chief Wesley Barnes |
| 2013 | Pawn | Will |
| 2013 | Zulu | Ali Sokhela |
| 2013 | Black Nativity | Reverend Cornell Cobbs |
| 2013 | Making a Scene | Man |
| 2013 | Mysteries of the Unseen World | Narrator |
| 2013 | The Making of 'Making a Scene' | Self |
| 2013 | Rising from Ashes | Narrator |
| 2012 | Freelancers | Dennis Larue |
| 2012 | A Dark Truth | Francisco Francis |
| 2011 | Catch.44 | Ronny |
| 2011 | Serving Life | Narrator (voice) |
| 2011 | A Man's Story | Self |
| 2010 | Repo Men | Jake |
| 2010 | Our Family Wedding | Brad Boyd |
| 2010 | The Experiment | Barris |
| 2010 | My Own Love Song | Joey |
| 2010 | Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life | Lion |
| 2010 | Lullaby for Pi | George |
| 2010 | 2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift | (archive footage) |
| 2009 | Hurricane Season | Al Collins |
| 2009 | Winged Creatures | Charlie Archenault |
| 2009 | Where the Wild Things Are | Ira (voice) |
| 2009 | Crips and Bloods: Made in America | Narrator |
| 2009 | Powder Blue | Charlie |
| 2008 | Street Kings | Captain Jack Wander |
| 2008 | Vantage Point | Howard Lewis |
| 2008 | Mon Clown | Self (archive footage) |
| 2007 | The Air I Breathe | Happiness |
| 2007 | The Great Debaters | Dr. James Farmer Sr. |
| 2007 | Even Money | Clyde Snow |
| 2007 | Ripple Effect | Philip |
| 2006 | The Last King of Scotland | Idi Amin |
| 2006 | The Marsh | Geoffrey Hunt |
| 2006 | Everyone's Hero | Lonnie Brewster (voice) |
| 2006 | Before the Music Dies | Self - Narrator (voice) |
| 2005 | A Little Trip to Heaven | Abe Holt |
| 2005 | American Gun | Carter |
| 2005 | Mary | Ted Younger |
| 2005 | Deacons for Defense | Marcus Clay |
| 2005 | Odyssey in Rome | |
| 2005 | Jiminy Glick in Lalawood | Forest Whitaker |
| 2004 | The Misbehavers | Self |
| 2004 | First Daughter | Narrator (voice) |
| 2004 | Shooting 'Panic Room' | Self |
| 2003 | Phone Booth | Captain Ramey |
| 2003 | Making of Phone Booth | Self |
| 2002 | Panic Room | Burnham |
| 2001 | Green Dragon | Addie |
| 2001 | Feast of All Saints | Daguerreotypist Picard |
| 2001 | The Fourth Angel | Agent Jules Bernard |
| 2001 | The Follow | The Employer |
| 2001 | A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon' | Self |
| 2001 | Ghost Dog: The Odyssey: The Journey Into the Life of a Samurai | |
| 2000 | Battlefield Earth | Ker |
| 2000 | Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows | Self |
| 2000 | The Paperboy | Narrator |
| 2000 | Four Dogs Playing Poker | Mr. Ellington |
| 1999 | Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai | Ghost Dog |
| 1999 | Light It Up | Officer Dante Jackson |
| 1999 | Witness Protection | Steven Beck |
| 1998 | Body Count | Crane |
| 1996 | Phenomenon | Nate Pope |
| 1996 | Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault | Mr. Rucker |
| 1995 | Smoke | Cyrus Cole |
| 1995 | Species | Dan Smithson, Empath |
| 1995 | Mr. Holland's Opus | Bobby Tidd as an adult (uncredited) |
| 1994 | Blown Away | Anthony Franklin |
| 1994 | Prêt-à-Porter | Cy Bianco |
| 1994 | Jason's Lyric | Maddog |
| 1994 | The Enemy Within | Col. MacKenzie Casey |
| 1994 | Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso | Self |
| 1993 | Body Snatchers | Major Collins |
| 1993 | Last Light | Fred Whitmore |
| 1993 | Lush Life | Buddy Chester |
| 1993 | Bank Robber | Officer Battle |
| 1992 | The Crying Game | Jody |
| 1992 | Article 99 | Dr. Sid Handleman |
| 1992 | Consenting Adults | David Duttonville |
| 1991 | A Rage in Harlem | Jackson |
| 1991 | Diary of a Hitman | Dekker |
| 1990 | Downtown | Dennis Curren |
| 1990 | Criminal Justice | Jessie Williams |
| 1989 | Johnny Handsome | Dr. Steven Fisher |
| 1988 | Bloodsport | Rawlins |
| 1988 | Bird | Charlie 'Bird' Parker |
| 1987 | Good Morning, Vietnam | Edward Garlick |
| 1987 | Stakeout | Det. Jack Pismo |
| 1987 | Hands of a Stranger | Sergeant Delaney |
| 1986 | The Color of Money | Amos |
| 1986 | Platoon | Big Harold |
| 1985 | Vision Quest | Balldozer |
| 1982 | Fast Times at Ridgemont High | Charles Jefferson |
| 1982 | Tag: The Assassination Game | Gowdy's Bodyguard |
| Sewing Hope | Narrator (voice) |