Forest Whitaker (born July 15, 1961, Longview, Texas, U.S.) is an American actor and director who is known for his riveting and deeply nuanced portrayals of a wide variety of characters in movies and on television, whether he is in a leading role or playing a minor character.
Whitaker grew up in Los Angeles. He played football in high school and attended California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, on a football scholarship. He later transferred to the University of Southern California, where he studied music and acting. Whitaker first gained wide notice in a small part in the hit teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). He spent the next several years making guest appearances on TV shows, including Cagney & Lacey and Hill Street Blues, before playing a pool shark who demolishes Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) in Martin Scorsese’s film The Color of Money (1986) in what film critic Pauline Kael described as a “brief, startling performance.” Whitaker also portrayed the soldier Big Harold in Oliver Stone’s harrowing Vietnam War movie Platoon (1986), and he appeared with Robin Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987).
In 1988 Whitaker won the award for best actor at the Cannes film festival for his starring role as jazz great Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood’s biopic Bird. His other notable roles included the captured British soldier who persuades his Irish Republican Army captor to look after his enigmatic girlfriend Dil in The Crying Game (1992), a gay fashion designer in Robert Altman’s Prêt-à-Porter (Ready to Wear; 1994), the best friend of the protagonist (played by John Travolta) in Phenomenon (1996), and the unsettling title hit man in Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999).
In the 21st century Whitaker played a police captain in the thriller Phone Booth (2002). He won an Academy Award for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of the charismatic and brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006). Whitaker was nominated for an Emmy Award for his extended guest role in 2006 as a stroke patient on the TV medical drama series ER. He also was a cast member (2006–07) on the show The Shield and starred in the short-lived series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2011). Whitaker was praised for his portrayal of White House butler Cecil Gaines in the film Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013), and he later played Colonel Weber in the science fiction movie Arrival (2016), as well as the rebel militant Saw Gerrera in the Star Wars spinoff Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). He later had a recurring role (2017–18) in the TV series Empire, and in 2018 he appeared in the movies Black Panther, Sorry to Bother You, and Burden. He then took a starring role in the TV series Godfather of Harlem (2019– ), portraying 1960s crime boss Bumpy Johnson. In 2021 Whitaker was cast as the father of legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin in the biopic Respect.
Whitaker also began working as a director in the 1990s. His credits included Waiting to Exhale (1995), based on the 1992 novel by Terry McMillan; Hope Floats (1998); and First Daughter (2004). In addition, he played Erie in a brief 2016 Broadway revival of the short Eugene O’Neill play Hughie.