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Forest Whitaker Biography

Forest Whitaker III is an American actor, producer, and director. He became popular for intensive character study work for films such as Bird, The Crying Game, Platoon, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Great Debaters, The Butler and Arrival. Forest has also appeared in blockbusters such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Saw Gerrera and Black Panther as Zuri.

Following his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, he won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and various critics groups’ awards for a lead acting performance.

Forest Whitaker Age | How Old Is Forest Whitaker

Forest was born on July 15, 1961 in Longview, Texas. He is 57 years old as of 2018.

How Tall Is Forest Whitaker | Forest Whitaker Height

Forest stands at a height of 1.88 m.

Forest Whitaker Family | Forest Whitaker Siblings

Forest was born in Longview, Texas.  He is the son of Laura Francis (née Smith), a special education teacher who put herself through college and earned two master’s degrees while raising her children, and Forest Steven Whitaker Jr., an insurance salesman.  According to a  DNA test his mother had Akan ancestry, while his father was of Igbo descent. When forest was four years old, his family moved to Carson, California. He has two younger brothers, Kenn and Damon, and an older sister, Deborah. Forest’s first role as an actor was the lead in Dylan Thomas’ play Under Milk Wood

Forest Whitaker Education

Forest went to  Palisades Charter High School where he played on the football team and sang in the choir and he graduated in 1979. He joined California State Polytechnic University, Pomona  on a football scholarship, but a back injury made him change his major to music (singing). Forest in 1980 he toured England with the Cal Poly Chamber Singers . He briefly changed his major to drama while he was still at Cal Poly.

Forest was accepted to the Music Conservatory at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor.  Eventually he was accepted into the University’s Drama Conservatory.  In 1982 Forest graduated from USC with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting. Forest also earned a scholarship to the Berkeley, California, branch of the Drama Studio London. He was pursuing a degree in “The Core of Conflict: Studies in Peace and Reconciliation” at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2004.

Forest Whitaker Wife | Forest Whitaker Children |Forest Whitaker Divorce

Forest married actress Keisha Nash in 1996, whom he met on the set of Blown Away. The couple has four children: two daughters together (Sonnet and True), and his son (Ocean) and her daughter (Autumn) from their previous relationships.  Forest filed for divorce from Nash in December 2018, citing irreconcilable differences.

Forest whitaker photos

Forest Whitaker Son |Forest Whitaker Daughter

Forest’s  son, Ocean was the ringbearer at their wedding, while Keisha’s daughter Autumn was a flower girl.

Ocean was born in 1990 while Autumn was born in 1991. After their marriage, Whitaker and his wife welcomed 2 more daughters, Sonnet Noel in 1996 and True in 1998.

Forest Whitaker Eye | Forest Whitaker Lazy Eye |Forest Whitaker Ptosis

Forest’s  left eye ptosis has been called “intriguing” by some critics  and gives him “a lazy, contemplative look”. He has explained that the condition is hereditary and that he has considered having surgery to correct it, not for cosmetic reasons but because it affects his vision

Forest Whitaker Films | Forest Whitaker Movies | Forest Whitaker Filmography

Forest Whitaker Tv Shows

Forest Whitaker Best Movies

• The Last King of Scotland – 2006
• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai – 1999
• The Crying Game -1992
• Good Morning, Vietnam – 1987
• The Butler- 2013
• Platoon – 1986
• Phone Booth – 2002
• Panic Room – 2002
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 2016
• The Great Debaters – 2007
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High – 1982

Forest Whitaker New Movie | Forest Whitaker Latest Movie

• City of Lies
• How It Ends
• Black Panther
• Burden
• Sorry to Bother You

Forest Whitaker Oscar | Forest Whitaker Academy Award

Forest’s performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so, joining the ranks of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx.  For that same role, he was also recognized with the British Academy Film Award, Golden Globe Award, National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and accolades from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, London Film Critics’ Circle Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics, and New York Film Critics Circle among others.

Forest Whitaker Memes

Forest Whitaker memes

Forest Whitaker Rogue One |Forest Whitaker Star Wars

Forest played Saw Gerrera in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. A fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. It was originally introduced in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where he was voiced by Andrew Kishino. He was eventually played by Forest in the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as well as voiced by him in the animated series Star Wars Rebels.

Forest Whitaker Dead

Forest is still alive.

Forest Whitaker Fast Times

Forest’s  first onscreen performance of note, he had a supporting role playing a high school football player in the 1982 film version of Cameron Crowe’s coming-of-age teen-retrospective Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  A coming-of-age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Cameron Crowe, adapted from his 1981 book of the same title. He went undercover at Clairemont High School in San Diego and wrote about his experiences.

Baby Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker The Butler

After a small career slump in 2013 where he starred in a few straight-to-video films,  Forest has enjoyed a career resurgence, having played the lead role in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, which has become one of his greatest critical and commercial successes to date.

Forest Whitaker The Shield

After working in a number of film roles, Forest returned to television in 2006 when he joined the cast of FX’s police serial The Shield, as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh, who was determined to prove that the lead character, Vic Mackey, is a dirty cop. As opposed to his previous character work, Forest stated that he merely had to draw on his childhood years growing up in South Central Los Angeles for the role

Forest Whitaker Bloodsport

Forest appeared in the film Bloodsport and had his first lead role starring as musician Charlie “Bird” Parker in Clint Eastwood’s Bird. To prepare himself for the part, he sequestered himself in a loft with only a bed, couch, and saxophone,  having also conducted extensive research and taken alto sax lessons.  Forest’s performance, which has been reffered to as  “transcendent”, earned him the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.

Forest Whitaker Scientology

Forest appeared in what has been called one of the worst films ever made.  The 2000 production of Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard. It was widely criticized as a notorious commercial and critical disaster. However, Forest’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.” The film won seven Razzie Awards.  Forest was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to his co-star, Barry Pepper. Later, Forest expressed his regret for participating in the film.

Forest Whitaker Bird

Bird is  biographical film. It was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Joel Oliansky. It is a tribute to the life and music of jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker. The film constructed as a montage of scenes from Parker’s life, from his childhood in Kansas City, through his early death at the age of 34.

Forest Whitaker Weight Loss

Forest shocked his fans and contemporaries when he sported his thin physique at the 2010 Academy Awards as he came on stage to honour Best Actress winner Sandra Bullock.

Though he spoke kindly and eloquently of her talent, his words were overshadowed by his dramatic weight loss, his smaller frame accentuated even more by the big, thick-rimmed glasses that he wore.
Forest continued to lose the weight after he landed the role as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on US police drama The Shield.

Forest also cited his vegetarian diet as a good way to lose weight and avoid health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, and several types of cancer.

Denzel Whitaker Forest Whitaker

Denzel Whitaker previously worked with Forest Whitaker in The Great Debaters. Despite portraying the same character and sharing their last name, Denzel and Forest Whitaker are not related.