Forest Whitaker
Acting • Born 1961-07-15
Biography
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.
Filmography
172 credits
Blown Away
Movie • 1994
Anthony Franklin
Johnny Handsome
Movie • 1989
Dr. Steven Fisher
Street Kings
Movie • 2008
Captain Jack Wander
Smoke
Movie • 1995
Cyrus Cole
The Last King of Scotland
Movie • 2006
Idi Amin
Good Morning, Vietnam
Movie • 1987
Edward Garlick
Phone Booth
Movie • 2003
Captain Ramey
Prêt-à-Porter
Movie • 1994
Cy Bianco
Panic Room
Movie • 2002
Burnham
Body Snatchers
Movie • 1993
Major Collins
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Movie • 1999
Ghost Dog
Battlefield Earth
Movie • 2000
Ker
Jason's Lyric
Movie • 1994
Maddog
The Marsh
Movie • 2006
Geoffrey Hunt
Body Count
Movie • 1998
Crane
The Crying Game
Movie • 1992
Jody
Bloodsport
Movie • 1988
Rawlins
Vantage Point
Movie • 2008
Howard Lewis
Repo Men
Movie • 2010
Jake
Bird
Movie • 1988
Charlie 'Bird' Parker
The Color of Money
Movie • 1986
Amos
Hurricane Season
Movie • 2010
Al Collins
Article 99
Movie • 1992
Dr. Sid Handleman
Phenomenon
Movie • 1996
Nate Pope
Species
Movie • 1995
Dan Smithson, Empath
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Movie • 1982
Charles Jefferson
Our Family Wedding
Movie • 2010
Brad Boyd
The Air I Breathe
Movie • 2007
Happiness
Green Dragon
Movie • 2001
Addie
The Great Debaters
Movie • 2007
Dr. James Farmer Sr.
A Rage in Harlem
Movie • 1991
Jackson
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault
Movie • 1996
Mr. Rucker
A Little Trip to Heaven
Movie • 2005
Abe Holt
Downtown
Movie • 1990
Dennis Curren
The Experiment
Movie • 2010
Barris
American Gun
Movie • 2005
Carter
My Own Love Song
Movie • 2010
Joey
Consenting Adults
Movie • 1992
David Duttonville
Winged Creatures
Movie • 2009
Charlie Archenault
Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life
Movie • 2010
Lion
Where the Wild Things Are
Movie • 2009
Ira (voice)
Mary
Movie • 2005
Ted Younger
Deacons for Defense
Movie • 2005
Marcus Clay
Lullaby for Pi
Movie • 2010
George
Crips and Bloods: Made in America
Movie • 2009
Narrator
Powder Blue
Movie • 2009
Charlie
Light It Up
Movie • 1999
Officer Dante Jackson
Even Money
Movie • 2007
Clyde Snow
Diary of a Hitman
Movie • 1991
Dekker
Repentance
Movie • 2014
Angel
Last Light
Movie • 1993
Fred Whitmore
Lush Life
Movie • 1993
Buddy Chester
Feast of All Saints
Movie • 2001
Daguerreotypist Picard
Catch.44
Movie • 2011
Ronny
The Fourth Angel
Movie • 2001
Agent Jules Bernard
The Last Stand
Movie • 2013
Agent John Bannister
The Enemy Within
Movie • 1994
Col. MacKenzie Casey
Witness Protection
Movie • 1999
Steven Beck
Serving Life
Movie • 2011
Narrator (voice)
Freelancers
Movie • 2012
Dennis Larue
The Butler
Movie • 2013
Cecil Gaines
A Dark Truth
Movie • 2012
Francisco Francis
Out of the Furnace
Movie • 2013
Chief Wesley Barnes
Pawn
Movie • 2013
Will
Zulu
Movie • 2013
Ali Sokhela
Black Nativity
Movie • 2013
Reverend Cornell Cobbs
Two Men in Town
Movie • 2014
William Garnett
Criminal Justice
Movie • 1990
Jessie Williams
Taken 3
Movie • 2014
Inspector Frank Dotzler
Big George Foreman
Movie • 2023
Doc Broadus
to Crinkle their Wrist, Perfumed Splendour
Movie • 2023
Ghost Dog (archive footage)
Andor: A Disney+ Day Special Look
Movie • 2022
Saw Gerrera (archive footage) (uncredited)
Southpaw
Movie • 2015
Titus 'Tick' Wills
Making of Phone Booth
Movie • 2003
Self
Prophets of Change
Movie • 2022
Narrator
Everyone's Hero
Movie • 2006
Lonnie Brewster (voice)
Arrival
Movie • 2016
Colonel Weber
The Misbehavers
Movie • 2004
Self
Dope
Movie • 2015
The Narrator (voice)
Mysteries of the Unseen World
Movie • 2013
Narrator
Odyssey in Rome
Movie • 2005
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Movie • 2016
Saw Gerrera
Stakeout
Movie • 1987
Det. Jack Pismo
Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows
Movie • 2000
Self
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
Movie • 2022
Self (archive footage)
Jiminy Glick in Lalawood
Movie • 2005
Forest Whitaker
The Follow
Movie • 2001
The Employer
Sewing Hope
Movie
Narrator (voice)
The King of Kings
Movie • 2025
Peter (voice)
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
Movie • 2010
(archive footage)
Hands of a Stranger
Movie • 1987
Sergeant Delaney
I Am You
Movie • 2016
Narrator (voice)
Bank Robber
Movie • 1993
Officer Battle
Black Panther
Movie • 2018
Zuri
Burden
Movie • 2018
Reverend Kennedy
Finding Steve McQueen
Movie • 2019
Howard Lambert
City of Lies
Movie • 2018
Jack Jackson
Ripple Effect
Movie • 2007
Philip
Tag: The Assassination Game
Movie • 1982
Gowdy's Bodyguard
The Forgiven
Movie • 2018
Desmond Tutu
Triumph: The Untold Story of Perry Wallace
Movie • 2018
Narrator (voice)
A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon'
Movie • 2001
Self
A Man's Story
Movie • 2011
Self
Platoon
Movie • 1986
Big Harold
How It Ends
Movie • 2018
Tom
Sorry to Bother You
Movie • 2018
First Equisapien / Demarius
The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'
Movie • 2017
Self
The Paperboy
Movie • 2000
Narrator
Vision Quest
Movie • 1985
Balldozer
First Daughter
Movie • 2004
Narrator (voice)
Respect
Movie • 2021
C. L. Franklin
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Movie • 2020
Jeronicus Jangle
Shooting 'Panic Room'
Movie • 2004
Self
Before the Music Dies
Movie • 2006
Self - Narrator (voice)
Xenolinguistics: Understanding 'Arrival'
Movie • 2017
Self
Ghost Dog: The Odyssey: The Journey Into the Life of a Samurai
Movie • 2001
Mr. Holland's Opus
Movie • 1995
Bobby Tidd as an adult (uncredited)
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
Movie • 2020
Self
Rising from Ashes
Movie • 2013
Narrator
Food Chains
Movie • 2014
Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times
Movie • 2020
Self
Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso
Movie • 1994
Self
Havoc
Movie • 2025
Lawrence Beaumont
A Fall from Grace
Movie
Seaweed Stories
Movie • 2024
Narrator (voice)
Four Dogs Playing Poker
Movie • 2000
Mr. Ellington
Rose's Baby
Movie
Making a Scene | 11 Performances
Movie • 2013
The Grand Baby
Movie • 1983
Inside the Actors Studio
TV • 1994
Self
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
TV • 2003
Self
The Shield
TV • 2002
Jon Kavanaugh
American Dad!
TV • 2005
Turlington (voice)
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self
Today
TV • 1952
Self
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
Self
Diff'rent Strokes
TV • 1978
The View
TV • 1997
Self
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
Hill Street Blues
TV • 1981
Criminal Minds
TV • 2005
Sam Cooper
American Idol
TV • 2002
Self
The Early Show
TV • 1999
Self
Cagney & Lacey
TV • 1982
Night Manager
Star Wars: Go Rogue
TV • 2016
Saw Gerrera (voice)
ER
TV • 1994
Curtis Ames
Where Are They Now?
TV • 1999
Self
The Twilight Zone
TV • 2002
Self - Host
Extrapolations
TV • 2023
Auggie Bolo
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
TV • 2011
Sam Cooper
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Host
North and South
TV • 1985
Cuffey
Live from E!
TV • 2002
Self
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
TV • 2005
Self
Amazing Stories
TV • 1985
Jerry
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
TV • 2015
Self
Roots
TV • 2016
Fiddler
The Hire
TV • 2001
The Employer
Cannes Festival
TV • 2022
Self - Guest
Empire
TV • 2015
Eddie Barker
Star Wars Rebels
TV • 2014
Saw Gerrera (voice)
Godfather of Harlem
TV • 2019
Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson
Emperor of Ocean Park
TV • 2024
Oliver Garland
Andor
TV • 2022
Saw Gerrera
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self - Presenter
Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy
TV • 2021
Self
My Generation
TV • 2024
Narrator
By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem
TV • 2020
Self
The Jennifer Hudson Show
TV • 2022
Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self - Guest
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self