Forest Whitaker

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Forest Whitaker
Birth name	Forest Steven Whitaker
Born	July 15, 1961 (age 45) Longview, Texas,  United States
Spouse(s)	Keisha Whitaker (1996-present)
Notable roles	Charlie Parker in Bird Jody in The Crying Game Lt. Jon Kavanaugh in The Shield Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland
Academy Awards
Best Actor 2006 The Last King of Scotland
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Made For Television Movie 2003 Door to Door (co-executive producer)
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor 2007 The Last King of Scotland
BAFTA Awards
Best Actor 2007 The Last King of Scotland

Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, and director. For his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film, The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker won several major awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA. He became the fourth African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, following in the footsteps of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx.^[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Film work 2.2 Television work 2.3 Producing and directing 3 Personal life 4 Selected filmography 5 Footnotes 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Whitaker was born in Longview, Texas to Forest Whitaker, Jr., an insurance man and son of novelist Forest Whitaker, Sr., and Laura Francis Smith, a teacher. His mother put herself through college and earned two Masters degrees while raising her children (Forest has two younger brothers, Kenn and Damon, and an older sister, Deborah). The family moved to the Los Angeles area when Whitaker was a toddler. Whitaker commuted from Carson to Palisades High School, where he was all-league defensive tackle on the football team quarterbacked by Jay Schroeder, a future NFL player. ^[2]

Whitaker attended California State Polytechnic Univ., Pomona on a football scholarship, but left due to a debilitating back injury. He was accepted to the Music Conservatory at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor, and was then accepted into the Drama Conservatory. He graduated from USC in 1982. He also earned a scholarship to the Berkeley, California branch of the Drama Studio London.^[3]

[edit] Career

[edit] Film work

Whitaker's first onscreen role of note was in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High alongside Nicolas Cage, Phoebe Cates, and Sean Penn. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorcese's film, The Color of Money (with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise), and in Oliver Stone's Platoon. The following year, he co-starred with Robin Williams in the comedy, Good Morning, Vietnam.

In 1988, Whitaker played the lead role of musician Charlie Parker in the Clint Eastwood-directed film, Bird. His performance earned him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.

Whitaker continued to work with a number of well-known directors throughout the 1990's. Neil Jordan cast him in the pivotal role of "Jody" in his 1992 film, The Crying Game. In 1994, he was a member of the cast that won the first ever National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble for Robert Altman's film, Prêt-à-Porter. He starred in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a 1999 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Whitaker next appeared in what has been called one of the "worst films ever made,"^[4] the 2000 production of Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard. The film was widely criticized as a notorious commercial and critical disaster.^[4][5] However, Whitaker's performance was lauded by the film's director, Roger Christian, who commented that, "'Everybody's going to be very surprised'" by Whitaker, who "'found this huge voice and laugh.'"^[6]

In 2001, Whitaker had a small, uncredited role in the Wong Kar-wai-directed The Follow, one of five short films produced by BMW that year to promote its cars.^[7] He co-starred in Joel Schumaker's 2002 thriller, Phone Booth, with Kiefer Sutherland and Colin Farrell. That year, he also co-starred with Jodie Foster in Panic Room.

Whitaker's greatest success to date is the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. To prepare for his role as dictator Idi Amin, Whitaker gained 50 pounds, learned to play the accordion, and immersed himself in research.^[8] He read books about Amin, watched news and documentary footage, and spent time in Uganda meeting with Amin's friends, relatives, generals, and victims; he also learned Swahili and mastered Amin's East African accent. ^[9]

His performance earned him the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so. For that same role, he also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, and accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

[edit] Television work

In 2002, Whitaker was the host and narrator of 44 new episodes of the Rod Serling classic, The Twilight Zone, which lasted one season on UPN.^[10]

Whitaker returned to television in 2006 when he joined the cast of FX's cop serial The Shield, as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh. His performance as a tormented internal affairs cop was well-received. In the fall of 2006, Whitaker started a multi-episode story arc on ER as Curtis Ames, a man who comes into the ER with a cough, but quickly faces the long-term consequences of a paralyzing stroke; he then takes out his anger on Doctors Luka Kovac and Abby Lockhart. Also in 2006, Whitaker appeared in T.I.'s video "Live in the Sky" alongside Jamie Foxx.

On February 10, 2007, Whitaker hosted Saturday Night Live. His singing talent was featured in several sketches, including a sketch about a singing waiter who can sing notes that can only be heard by dogs.

[edit] Producing and directing

Whitaker branched out into producing and directing in the 1990s. He co-produced and co-starred in A Rage in Harlem in 1991. He was executive producer for the 2002 Emmy-award winning made-for-television movie, Door to Door, starring William H. Macy. He made his directorial debut with a grim film about inner-city gun violence, Strapped, for HBO in 1993. In 1995, he directed his first feature, Waiting to Exhale, and also directed co-star Whitney Houston's music video of the movie's theme song ("Shoop Shoop"). Whitaker was slated to write and direct a live-action movie adaptation of Bill Cosby's cartoon, Fat Albert, but differences between the two led to Whitaker leaving the production in 2001.^[11] In 2004, Whitaker directed Katie Holmes in the romantic comedy, First Daughter; he co-starred with Holmes in Phone Booth in 2002.

[edit] Personal life

In 1996, Whitaker married fellow actress Keisha Nash,^[12] whom he met on the set of Blown Away.^[8] The Whitakers have four children: two daughters together (Sonnet and True), his son (Ocean) from a previous relationship, and her daughter (Autumn) from a previous relationship.^[12] Whitaker has a medical condition called strabismus,^[13] which is sometimes referred to as "lazy eye."^[14] Whitaker, who has a 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate, is a vegetarian.^[8] He and his daughter, True, have recorded a public service announcement promoting vegetarianism on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

[edit] Selected filmography

Actor:

• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• The Color of Money (1986)
• North and South, Book II (1986)
• Platoon (1986)
• Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
• Bird (1988)
• Bloodsport (1988)
• Diary of a Hitman (1991)
• A Rage in Harlem (1991)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• Blown Away (1994)
• Prêt-à-Porter (1994)
• The Enemy Within (1994)
• Jason's Lyric - (1994)
• Species (1995)
• Smoke (1995)
• Phenomenon (1996)
• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
• Battlefield Earth (2000)
• Panic Room (2002)
• Phone Booth (2002)
• American Gun (2005)
• Mary (2005)
• The Last King of Scotland (2006)
• The Air I Breathe (2007)

Director:

• Waiting to Exhale (1995)
• Hope Floats (1998)
• First Daughter (2004)

Awards
Preceded by Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote	Academy Award for Best Actor 2006 for The Last King of Scotland	Succeeded by TBD
Preceded by Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 2007 for The Last King of Scotland	Succeeded by TBD
Preceded by Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role 2007 for The Last King of Scotland	Succeeded by TBD

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Forest Whitaker at the Internet Movie Database
• Forest Whitaker at TV.com
• Forest Whitaker endorsement for PETA
• Forest Whitaker - Last King Of Scotland interview
• Forest Whitaker interview
• Forest Whitaker on BBC's "Radio Five Live"

Persondata
NAME	Whitaker, Forest
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American actor and film director.
DATE OF BIRTH	July 15, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH	Longview, Texas
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH