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Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker

Birthday: 1961-07-15 | Place of Birth: Longview, Texas, USA

Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Whitaker went on to earn a reputation for intensive character study work for films, such as Platoon (1986), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bird (1988), The Crying Game (1992), Phenomenon (1996), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), The Great Debaters (2007), The Butler (2013), Arrival (2016), and Respect (2021). He has also appeared in blockbusters, such as Panic Room (2002), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) as Saw Gerrera, and Black Panther (2018) as Zuri. For his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the British historical drama film The Last King of Scotland (2006), Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Whitaker made his directorial debut with the television film Strapped (1993), and directed the films Waiting to Exhale (1995), Hope Floats (1998), and First Daughter (2004). Apart from his film career, Whitaker is also known for his humanitarian work and activism. In 2011, he was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, later receiving a promotion to Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, and serves as the CEO of Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), a non-profit outreach program. Description above from the Wikipedia article Forest Whitaker, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2025
Havoc

as    Lawrence Beaumont

2025
The King of Kings

as    Peter (voice)

2025
Andor Season 2 | A Special Look

as    Saw Gerrera (archive footage) (uncredited)

2024
Seaweed Stories

as    Narrator

2024
Emperor of Ocean Park

as    Oliver Garland

2023
Big George Foreman

as    Doc Broadus

2023
to Crinkle their Wrist, Perfumed Splendour

as    Ghost Dog (archive footage)

2022
Prophets of Change

as    Narrator

2022
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

as    Saw Gerrera

2021
Respect

as    C. L. Franklin

2021
City of Lies

as    Jack Jackson

2020
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

as    Jeronicus Jangle

2020
Burden

as    Reverend Kennedy

2019
Godfather of Harlem

as    Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson

2019
Finding Steve McQueen

as    Howard Lambert

2018
The Forgiven

as    Desmond Tutu

2018
How It Ends

as    Tom

2016
Arrival

as    Colonel Weber

2016
Roots

as    Fiddler

2016
I Am You

as    Narrator (voice)

2015
Two Men in Town

as    William Garnett