Forest Whitaker Biography

Birthday: 1961-07-15
Place of Birth: Longview, Texas USA
Height: 6' 2" (1.88 m)
Wiki Biography: Forest Whitaker has packaged a king-size talent into his hulking 6' 2", 220 lb. frame. The athletically-inclined Whitaker initially found his way into college via a football scholarship. Later, however, he transferred to USC where he set his concentration on music and earned two more scholarships training as an operatic tenor. This, in turn, led to another scholarship at Berkeley with a renewed focus on acting and the performing stage.
Whitaker made his film debut at the age of 21 in the raucous comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) wherein he played, quite naturally, a footballer. He went on to play another sports-oriented student, a wrestler, in his second film Vision Quest (1985). He gained experience on TV as well with featured spots on such varied shows as "Diff'rent Strokes" (1978) and "Cagney & Lacey" (1981), not to mention the TV-movie Civil War epic "North and South" (1985) and its sequel. The movie that truly put him on the map was The Color of Money (1986). His one big scene as a naive-looking pool player who out-hustles Paul Newman's Fast Eddie Felson was pure electricity. This led to more visible roles in the "A" class films Platoon (1986), Stakeout (1987), and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), which culminated in his breakout lead portrayal of the tortured jazz icon 'Charlie "Bird" Parker' in Clint Eastwood's passion project Bird (1988), for which Whitaker won the Cannes Film Festival award for "best actor" and a Golden Globe nomination.
While his "gentle giant" characters typically display innocence, indecision, and timidity along with a strong underlying humanity, he has certainly not shied away from the edgier, darker corners of life as his occasional hitmen and other menacing streetwise types can attest. Although in only the first section of the film, he was memorable as the IRA-captured British soldier whose bizarre relationship with a mysterious femme fatale serves as the catalyst for the critically-lauded drama The Crying Game (1992). Always a willing participant to push the envelope, he's gone on to enhance a number of lesser films. Among those was his plastic surgeon in Johnny Handsome (1989), gay clothing designer in Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter (1994), alien hunter in Species (1995), absentee father confronted by his estranged son in Smoke (1995), and Mafia hitman who models himself after the samurai warrior in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), among many others. As would be expected, he's also had his share of epic-sized bombs, notoriously the L. Ron Hubbard sci-fi disaster Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000). On the TV front, he was the consulting producer and host of a revamped Rod Serling's cult series classic "The Twilight Zone" (2002), which lasted a disappointing one season.
In the early 1990s, Whitaker widened his horizons to include producing/directing and has since gained respect behind the camera as well. He started things off co-producing the violent gangster film A Rage in Harlem (1991), in which he co-starred with Gregory Hines and Robin Givens, and then made his successful directorial debut with the soulful Waiting to Exhale (1995), showcasing a legion of distaff black stars. He also directed co-star Whitney Houston's music video of the movie's theme song ("Shoop Shoop"). Most recently, he scored with audiences helming the fluffy romantic comedy First Daughter (2004) with Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton.
He is married to former model Keisha Whitaker and has three children by her. His younger brothers Kenn Whitaker and Damon Whitaker are both actors as well. Whitaker's multimedia company, Spirit Dance Entertainment, includes film, television and music production. He works closely with a number of charitable organizations, giving back to his community by serving as an Honorary Board Members for Penny Lane, an organization that provides assistance to abused teenagers, the Human Rights Watch and The Hope North organization.
Forest WhitakerPhotos & Pictures






Filmography
TV Title | Appeared As | Year | Genre |
---|---|---|---|
Lush Life | 1996 - 1996 | Drama | |
The Twilight Zone (2002) | Himself - Host / ... | 2002 - 2003 | |
Phenomenon | Nate Pope | 2007 - 2007 | Drama |
Our Family Wedding | Brad Boyd | 2010 | Comedy |
Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior | Sam Cooper | 2011 | Crime |
Africa | Himself - Narrarator | 2013 |
Movies Title | Appeared As | Year | Genre |
---|---|---|---|
Mary | 1931 | ||
Fast Times at Ridgemont High | 1982 | Comedy, Drama, Romance | |
Vision Quest | 1985 | 0 | |
North and South | Cuffey | 1985 | Drama, History, Romance |
Platoon | Big Harold | 1986 | 0, Romance |
Good Morning, Vietnam | Edward Garlick | 1987 | 0, 0 |
Stakeout | 1987 | Action, Comedy, Crime | |
Bloodsport | 1988 | Action, Sport | |
Bird | Charlie 'Bird' Parker | 1988 | Biography, Drama, Music |
Downtown | Dennis Curren | 1989 | |
Johnny Handsome | Dr. Steven Fisher | 1989 | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
A Rage in Harlem | 1991 | Comedy | |
Diary of a Hitman | Dekker | 1991 | Comedy, 0 |
The Crying Game | Jody | 1992 | Biography, Comedy, 0 |
Article 99 | 1992 | Drama, Comedy | |
Consenting Adults | 1992 | Crime, Drama, Mystery | |
Body Snatchers | Major Collins | 1993 | |
Bank Robber | Officer Battle | 1993 | Comedy, Crime, Romance |
Blown Away | 1994 | 0, 0, Game Show | |
Prêt-à-Porter | Cy Bianco | 1994 | Comedy, Drama |
Species | 1995 | Reality Tv, 0, Sport | |
Smoke | Cyrus Cole | 1995 | Comedy, Drama |
Phenomenon | Nate Pope | 1996 | Drama, Fantasy |
Body Count | Crane | 1998 | Comedy, Crime, Drama |
Light It Up | 1999 | Game Show | |
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai | Ghost Dog | 1999 | Action, Crime, Drama |
Witness Protection | 1999 | Crime, Drama | |
Battlefield Earth | Ker | 2000 | 0, Sport |
American Gun | Carl Carter | 2002 | |
Panic Room | Burnham | 2002 | Game Show, Comedy |
The Fourth Angel | Agent Jules Bernard | 2002 | Thriller, Drama, Action |
Phone Booth | Captain Ed Ramey | 2003 | Mystery, Thriller |
Green Dragon | 2004 | Drama | |
A Little Trip to Heaven | 2005 | 0 | |
Ripple Effect | Philip | 2007 | 0 |
The Last King of Scotland | Idi Amin | 2007 | Drama, History |
The Marsh | Geoffrey Hunt | 2007 | Horror, Thriller |
The Air I Breathe | Happiness | 2007 | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
The Great Debaters | 2007 | Drama | |
Vantage Point | Howard Lewis | 2008 | Comedy, 0, 0 |
Chasseurs de dragons | Lian-Chu | 2008 | Animation, Adventure, Family |
Street Kings | Captain Jack Wander | 2008 | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
Even Money | 2008 | Crime, Drama | |
Powder Blue | Charlie | 2009 | |
Fragments | Charlie Archenault | 2009 | Crime, Drama |
Toys in the Attic | Teddy | 2009 | Animation, Family, Fantasy |
Hurricane Season | Al Collins | 2009 | Drama, Sport |
Repo Men | Jake | 2010 | Comedy, 0, Sport |
Our Family Wedding | Brad Boyd | 2010 | Comedy, Romance |
My Own Love Song | Joey | 2010 | Comedy, Drama |
The Experiment | Barris | 2010 | Drama, Thriller |
Lullaby for Pi | George | 2010 | Drama |
Catch .44 | Ronny | 2011 | |
Freelancers | LaRue | 2012 | Action, Crime, Drama |
The Butler | Cecil Gaines | 2013 | |
A Dark Truth | Francisco Francis | 2013 | Action, Thriller |
The Last Stand | Agent John Bannister | 2013 | Action, Crime, Thriller |
Pawn | Will | 2013 | Crime, Thriller |
Zulu | Ali Sokhela | 2013 | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
Black Nativity | Reverend Cornell | 2013 | Drama, Musical |
Out of the Furnace | Wesley Barnes | 2013 | Thriller |
A Fall from Grace | Source | 2014 | Drama, Mystery, Thriller |
Two Men in Town | William Garnett | 2014 | Drama |
Southpaw | Titus 'Tick' Wills | 2015 | Drama |