Forest Whitaker's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) The Shield Lt. Jon Kav… Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior Sam Cooper The Twilight Zone Host

Main Movie Roles 2010 - Our Family Wedding 2010 - Repo Men 2010 - The Experiment 2009 - Powder Blue 2009 - Where the Wild Things Are 2008 - Street Kings 2008 - Vantage Point 2008 - Winged Creatures 2007 - Ripple Effect 2007 - The Great Debaters 2006 - Before the Music Dies 2006 - The Last King of Scotland 2006 - Everyone's Hero 2006 - The Marsh 2005 - American Gun 2004 - First Daughter 2002 - Phone Booth 2002 - Panic Room 2001 - Green Dragon 2000 - Battlefield Earth 2000 - Four Dogs Playing Poker 1999 - Light It Up 1999 - Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 1998 - Body Count 1996 - Phenomenon 1995 - Species 1995 - Smoke 1994 - Blown Away 1994 - Prêt-à-porter 1994 - Jason's Lyric 1993 - Body Snatchers 1992 - Consenting Adults 1992 - Article 99 1992 - The Crying Game 1991 - A Rage in Harlem 1989 - Johnny Handsome 1988 - Bird 1988 - Bloodsport 1987 - Stakeout 1987 - Good Morning Vietnam 1986 - The Color of Money 1986 - Platoon 1985 - Vision Quest 1982 - Fast Times At Ridgemont High 1982 - Tag: The Assassination Game

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 student pigskin player in his second film Vision Quest (1985). He gain experience on TV as well with featured spots on such varied shows as "Diff'rent Strokes" (1978) and "Cagney & Lacey" (1982), 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 The Color of Money (1986). His one big scene as a naive-looking pool player who out-hustles Paul Newman (I)'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 various 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 (I)'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 developed respect name behind the camera. 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 with 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. Whitaker works closely with a number of charitable organizations. He has also given back to his community, serving as an Honorary Board Member for Penny Lane, an organization that provides assistance to abused teenagers, the Human Rights Watch and The Hope North organization.


TRIVIA:

• Presented French actress 'Marion Cotillard' (qv) with the Best Actress Oscar for her lead in _La môme (2007)_ (qv).
• Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003.
• Spent a total of three and a half months in Uganda researching and filming _The Last King of Scotland (2006)_ (qv). Uganda was his ever first visit to Africa.
• He is the father of three children. He has two daughters, 'Sonnet Noel Whitaker' (qv) (b. October 3rd 1996) and 'True Whitaker' (qv) (b. July 2nd 1998), by his wife, 'Keisha Whitaker' (qv) and a son, 'Ocean Whitaker' (qv) (b. 1990), from a previous relationship. He also has Autumn (b. 1991), a stepdaughter through his marriage with Keisha.
• Raised in Los Angeles by an insurance-salesman father and schoolteacher mother, the high school football star ditched his jersey and helmet after catching the acting bug in a production of 'Dylan Thomas (I)' (qv)' "Under Milk Wood".
• Met his wife actress 'Keisha Whitaker' (qv), nee Nash, on the set of _Blown Away (1994)_ (qv).
• Brother of actors 'Kenn Whitaker' (qv) and 'Damon Whitaker' (qv).
• (April 2002) Was set to direct a live-action film version of _Fat Albert (2004)_ (qv) but disagreed with 'Bill Cosby' (qv) and has since left the production.