Forest Whitaker | |
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Name: | Forest Steven Whitaker III |
Birthplace: | Longview, Texas, United States |
Birthdate: | 15 July, 1961 |
Active: | 1982–present |
Films appeared in: | Bank Robber Blown Away Body Count (1998 film) Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Light It Up The Fourth Angel Panic Room Phone Booth The Shield Vantage Point Street Kings Catch .44 The Last Stand Pawn Tak3n |
Role: | Officer Battle (Bank Robber) Anthony Franklin (Blown Away) Crane (Body Count) Ghost Dog (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) Officer Dante Jackson (Light it Up) Agent Jules Bernard (The Fourth Angel) Burnham (Panic Room) Captain Ed Ramey (Phone Booth) Lt. Jon Kavanaugh (The Shield) Howard Lewis (Vantage Point) Capt. Jack Wander (Street Kings) Ronny (Catch .44) Agent John Bannister (The Last Stand) Will (Pawn) Franck Dotzler (Tak3n) |
Forest Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an acclaimed and instantly recognizable American actor, producer and director who appeared in the Die Hard scenario films Blown Away, Light It Up, Panic Room, Phone Booth, Vantage Point, The Last Stand, Pawn and Tak3n.
While Forest has played various "gentle giant" characters who 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, with Morgan Freeman and Lance Henriksen), gay clothing designer in Robert Altman's Ready to Wear (1994), alien hunter in Species (1995, with Michael Madsen), absentee father confronted by his estranged son in Smoke (1995), and as a Mafia hitman who models himself after the samurai warrior in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), among many others.
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 has packaged a king-size talent into his hulking 6' 2", 220 lb. frame. He won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. He has also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Other film credits include: Fast Times at Ridgemore High, Platoon (with Tony Todd, Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger), Stakeout, Bloodsport (with Jean-Claude Van Damme), Bird (again with Todd), Jason's Lyric (with Bokeem Woodbine), Mr. Holland's Opus, Phenomenon (with John Travolta), Light It Up, The Fourth Angel (with Jeremy Irons), The Air I Breathe, Street Kings (with Keanu Reeves), Lee Daniel's The Butler (with Alan Rickman), Out of the Furnace (again with Dafoe and with Christian Bale), Black Nativity (with Angela Bassett and Vondie Curtis-Hall), Repetence (with Peter Weller), Tak3n (with Liam Neeson and Al Sapienza) and Star Wars: Rogue One.
In recent years, he also stole the show as Lt. Jon Kavanaugh in the FX cable TV series "The Shield". He also had recurring roles on "North and South", "ER" and "Family Guy". He briefly served as the lead star to headline the short-lived TV show spin-off "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior".