Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer and director. 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.
Forest Whitaker
- Actor
- producer
- director
1981–present
3
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).[1][2][3] He has also appeared in Panic Room (2002), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) as Saw Gerrera, and Black Panther (2018) as Zuri.
Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the historical drama The Last King of Scotland (2006). 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). Since 2019, he has starred as Bumpy Johnson in the Epix crime drama series Godfather of Harlem.
He made his Broadway debut in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie (2016). Apart from his acting 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.[4]
Early life and education
Forest Steven Whitaker was born on July 15, 1961, in Longview, Texas,[5] the son of Laura Francis (née Smith), a special education teacher and Forest E. Whitaker Jr., an insurance salesman.[6][7] A DNA test has shown that his mother had Akan ancestry, while his father was of Igbo descent.[8] When Whitaker was in elementary school, his family moved to Carson, California.[9] He has two younger brothers and an older sister. His first role as an actor was the lead in Dylan Thomas's play Under Milk Wood.[9]
Whitaker attended Palisades Charter High School, where he played on the football team and sang in the choir, graduating in 1979. He entered California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on a football scholarship,[10] but a back injury made him change his major to music (singing). He toured England with the Cal Poly Chamber Singers in 1980. While still at Cal Poly, he briefly changed his major to drama. He later transferred to the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor and was subsequently accepted into the university's Drama Conservatory.[7] He graduated from USC with a BFA in acting in 1982.[11] He then took a course at Drama Studio London at its now defunct California branch.[12] He was pursuing a degree in "The Core of Conflict: Studies in Peace and Reconciliation" at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2004.[13]
Production companies
Significant Productions
Whitaker's current company, Significant Productions, is devoted to creating opportunities for underrepresented narratives and storytellers by championing films and television shows starring people of color, alongside diversified representation behind the camera. Whitaker and his partner Nina Yang Bongiovi produced Ryan Coogler's directorial debut Fruitvale Station, which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival,[58] and won Prize of the Future at Cannes.[59] They also launched the career of Chloé Zhao, with Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015).[60] Other producing highlights have included Repentance (2013), Dope (2015), Roxanne Roxanne (2017)[61] and Sorry to Bother You (2018).[62] In 2021, the company's latest film, Passing, debuted on Netflix.[63]
Significant Productions also produced a documentary that was shot in the hospice at Angola prison in Louisiana, Serving Life (2011), which was produced for Oprah Winfrey as the first commission for OWN and Oprah's Doc Club.[64] They produced A Kid from Coney Island, a documentary about basketball star Stephon Marbury.[65] In 2020, Significant produced By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem.[66]
JuntoBox films
Whitaker has played an active role as co-chair of JuntoBox Films since his initial involvement as co-chair with the collaborative film studio starting in March 2012.[67] JuntoBox was developed as a social-media platform for filmmakers and fans to share ideas to create films and then collaborate to make them. Since Whitaker joined as co-chair, five projects have been greenlit for production.[68]
Music producer
Whitaker worked closely with Babyface as the executive producer to the soundtrack for Waiting to Exhale, which Whitaker directed. The album received a total of eleven Grammy nominations in 1997, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)". Three songs were nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. It won the Grammy for Best R&B Song for "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", written by Babyface.[69] Whitaker served as executive soundtrack producer on the soundtrack for Hope Floats, which he directed. Best known for Garth Brooks' rendition of "To Make You Feel My Love", the album went double-platinum and was Grammy-nominated. Whitaker also served as executive music producer and co-wrote eight songs for the soundtrack to First Daughter, which he directed. He also appears in the music video "In the Dark" by Bring Me the Horizon, released on October 21, 2019,[70]
Activism
Charity work
Over the past decade, Whitaker has spent much of his time dedicated to humanitarian work. These pursuits were partially motivated by a core lesson his mother taught him: "You don't have to believe what I believe, but you have to believe in something," which Whitaker has discussed giving structure to much of his life.[71]
He founded the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI), a non-governmental organization, in 2012. WPDI implements peace-building programs in conflict affected communities throughout the world, which are focused on training youths in conflict resolution and developing businesses in areas of conflict. WPDI's programs are currently operating throughout Africa, Mexico, and the United States.
Whitaker was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation, in a ceremony at UNESCO headquarters on June 21, 2011. As Goodwill Ambassador, Whitaker worked with UNESCO to support and develop initiatives that empower youths and keep them from entering or remaining in cycles of violence. At the induction ceremony, U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion described Whitaker as a "perfect choice as a Goodwill Ambassador... he has exemplified compassion in every area of his life, with humility and grace. He does this because it's the right thing to do."[72] Following his increased work in conflict-impacted regions, Whitaker was then promoted to a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation,[73] and was a member of President Obama's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.[74] He previously served on President Obama's Urban Policy Committee and started collaborating with the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict as an Advocate for Children Affected by War, a topic on which he was invited to speak before the UN Security Council in September 2014. Whitaker worked with elementary schools through the Turnaround Arts organization.[75] Additionally, he is on the steering committee for the UN's work with the Reintegration of Child Soldiers after having served as an Advocate for Children Affected by War, and is an Advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.[76]
He is also a supporter and public advocate for Hope North, a boarding school and vocational training center in northern Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of the country's civil war.[77]
Above all, Whitaker believes that ordinary people can and must come together to change the world. In his own words, "Even a seemingly small action can cause ripples that make an enormous impact."[78]
Politics
In politics, Whitaker supported and spoke on behalf of Senator Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign.[79] On April 6, 2009, he was given a chieftaincy title in Imo State, Nigeria. Whitaker, who was named a chief among the Igbo community of Nkwerre, was given the title Nwannedinamba of Nkwerre, which means A Brother in a Foreign Land.
Whitaker co-founded the International Institute for Peace (IIP) at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, where he is also a senior research scholar.[80] Launched during the international Newark Peace Education Summit, IIP's mission is to develop programs and strategic partnerships to address issues such as increasing citizen security through community-building; the role of women and spiritual and religious leaders in peacebuilding; the impact of climate change; and the reduction of poverty. IIP operates under the auspices of UNESCO.[81]
Personal life
In 1996, Whitaker married actress Keisha Nash (1972–2023),[82] whom he met on the set of Blown Away.[2] As a couple, they had four children: two daughters together (Sonnet and True), and his son (Ocean Alexander) and her daughter (Autumn) from their previous relationships. In December 2018, Whitaker filed for divorce from Nash, citing irreconcilable differences.[83]
Whitaker studies yoga, has a black belt in kenpō and is a vegetarian.[2] He also trains in eskrima, originally under Dan Inosanto and currently with Joe Jackson. In 2021, it was announced that he had joined NBA Africa as a minority owner and strategic investor.[84]
Whitaker's left eye ptosis has been called "intriguing" by the critic Susan Wloszczyna,[85] with the writer Stephanie Zacharek maintaining that it gives him "a sleepy, contemplative look".[86] Whitaker has explained that the condition is hereditary and that he has considered having surgery to correct it, not for cosmetic reasons but because it affects his vision.[87]
His ancestry has been traced to Nkwerre in Imo State of Nigeria, where he was made an honorary titled chief on April 5, 2009.[88]