Below is a compiled list of the most interesting facts about Forest Whitaker. Check it out!
Forest Steven Whitaker has packaged a king-size talent into his hulking 6′ 2″, 220 lb. frame. He won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the film The Last King of Scotland (2006), and has also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. He is the fourth African-American male to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, following in the footsteps of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx.
Interesting Facts about Forest Whitaker
- Was set to direct a live-action film version of Fat Albert (2004) but disagreed with Bill Cosby and has since left the production. [April 2002]
- (March 27, 1993) Attended the 8th Annual Independent Spirit Awards.
- Brother-in-law of Jeffrey Nash and Kidada Jones.
- He and his daughter, True Whitaker, have recorded a public service announcement promoting vegetarianism on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
- Born with an eye condition called ptosis, which translates to “drooping eyelid.”
- Whitaker hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) on February 10, 2007, during which his singing talent was featured in several sketches.
- He is the father of three children. He has two daughters, Sonnet Noel Whitaker (b. October 3rd 1996) and True Whitaker (b. July 2nd 1998), by his wife, Keisha Whitaker and a son, Ocean Whitaker (b. 1990), from a previous relationship. He also has Autumn (b. 1991), a stepdaughter through his marriage with Keisha.
- Won 23 major awards for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006) including all the awards that are considered the biggest (except Cannes). He was also nominated for one more award, and won BET’s “Best Actor” for the same year (presumably for the same film).
- In 2015 received an honorary doctorate from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
- Brother of actors Kenn Whitaker and Damon Whitaker.
- 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’ “Under Milk Wood”.
- Holds a Black belt in Kenpo Karate.
Personal Quotes by Forest Whitaker
The key is that I’m trying to keep growing and trying to keep learning and deepen my connection in every way, in my life, in my work. That’s what I do when I look at a role.
Forest Whitaker
It’s a contract of connection to be in the same space and watch and listen to stories and be caught in them. When you’re in a theater, your brain expands because somebody in the theater may do something or respond to something that you wouldn’t have.
Forest Whitaker
For many child soldiers, war and violence are all they have ever known. If we don’t take it upon ourselves to show them an alternative, then they’re going to be soldiers forever, and they’ll continue to be recruited and to participate in violence if another conflict starts five or 10 years down the road.
Forest Whitaker
Cinema and the arts invite viewers to focus on a story and, in doing so, peel away its layers and peer into the depths of the human soul.
Forest Whitaker
I submerged myself in all the information that I could find about Idi Amin. I mean, before I left Los Angeles, I was studying Kiswahili. I was working on the dialect. I was studying every documentary and tape of him that I could find – not just visual, but also audiocassettes, even in other languages when he was speaking in other dialects.
Forest Whitaker
