Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker is an actor, producer and director who has won an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and BAFTA for his portrayal of Dictator Idi Amin in Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland, and has appeared in over fifty films that have collectively grossed over $2 billion. Whitaker studied opera and drama in college and his first big-screen breakout performance was in Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Over the next thirty years, he worked with the greatest directors of our time, appearing in critically acclaimed films that include Oliver Stone’s Platoon, Clint Eastwood’s Bird (for which Whitaker won the Best Actor Award at Cannes), Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money (opposite Paul Newman), Robert Altman’s Ready to Wear, Wayne Wang’s Smoke, Barry Levinson’s Good Morning Vietnam, Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game, Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, David Fincher’s Panic Room, Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler. As a director, Mr. Whitaker’s work includes HBO’s Strapped, Waiting to Exhale, Hope Floats, and First Daughter. Most recently, Mr. Whitaker won critical acclaim for his performance in Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw, with upcoming film projects that include Star Wars: Rogue One.