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| » Forest Whitaker Info |
 Whitaker has a long history of working with well-regarded film directors and fellow actors. In his first onscreen role of note, he played a football player in Amy Heckerling's 1982 coming-of-age teen-comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He co-starred alongside Nicolas Cage, Phoebe Cates, and Sean Penn. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's film, The Color of Money (with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise), and in Oliver Stone's Platoon. The following year, he co-starred with Robin Williams in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam.
In 1988, Whitaker played the lead role of musician Charlie Parker in the Clint Eastwood-directed film, Bird. To prepare himself for the part, he sequestered himself in a loft with only a bed, couch, and saxophone, having also conducted extensive research and taken alto sax lessons. His performance, which has been called "transcendent," earned him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.
Whitaker continued to work with a number of well-known directors throughout the 1990's. Neil Jordan cast him in the pivotal role of "Jody" in his 1992 film, The Crying Game. Todd McCarthy, of Variety, described Whitaker's performance as "big-hearted," "hugely emotional," and "simply terrific." In 1994, he was a member of the cast that won the first ever National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble for Robert Altman's film, Prêt-à-Porter. He gave a "characteristically emotional performance" in Wayne Wang's 1995 adaptation of Paul Auster's book, Smoke.
Whitaker as the samurai, Ghost DogWhitaker played a serene, pigeon-raising, Samurai-code-following, mob hit man in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a 1999 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Many consider this to have been a "definitive role" for Whitaker. In a manner similar to his preparation for Bird, he again immersed himself in his character's world—he studied Eastern philosophy and meditated for long hours "to hone his inner spiritual hitman." Jarmusch has told interviewers that he developed the title character with Whitaker in mind; the New York Times review of the film observed that, "[I]t's hard to think of another actor who could play a cold-blooded killer with such warmth and humanity."
Whitaker next appeared in what has been called one of the "worst films ever made," the 2000 production of Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard. The film was widely criticized as a notorious commercial and critical disaster. However, Whitaker's performance was lauded by the film's director, Roger Christian, who commented that, "'Everybody's going to be very surprised'" by Whitaker, who "'found this huge voice and laugh.'" BattleField Earth "won" seven Razzie Awards; Whitaker was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to his co-star, Barry Pepper.
In 2001, Whitaker had a small, uncredited role in the Wong Kar-wai-directed The Follow, one of five short films produced by BMW that year to promote its cars. He co-starred in Joel Schumaker's 2002 thriller, Phone Booth, with Kiefer Sutherland and Colin Farrell. That year, he also co-starred with Jodie Foster in Panic Room. His performance as the film's "bad guy" has been described as "a subtle chemistry of aggression and empathy."
Whitaker as General Idi Amin in The Last King of ScotlandWhitaker's greatest success to date is the 2006 film, The Last King of Scotland. To prepare for his role as dictator Idi Amin, Whitaker gained 50 pounds, learned to play the accordion, and immersed himself in research. He read books about Amin, watched news and documentary footage, and spent time in Uganda meeting with Amin's friends, relatives, generals, and victims; he also learned Swahili and mastered Amin's East African accent.
His performance earned him the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so. For that same role, he also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, and accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
Filmography:
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Vision Quest (1985)
The Color of Money (1986)
North and South, Book II (1986)
Platoon (1986)
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Bird (1988)
Bloodsport (1988)
Diary of a Hitman (1991)
A Rage in Harlem (1991)
The Crying Game (1992)
Blown Away (1994)
Prêt-à-Porter (1994)
Jason's Lyric - (1994)
Species (1995)
Smoke (1995)
Phenomenon (1996)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
Witness Protection (1999)
Battlefield Earth (2000)
Panic Room (2002)
Phone Booth (2002)
A Little Trip to Heaven (2005)
American Gun (2005)
Mary (2005)
Everyone's Hero (2006) (Lonnie Brewster) (voice)
The Last King of Scotland (2006)
The Marsh (2006)
The Air I Breathe (2007)
Vantage Point (2007)
Repossession Mambo (TBA)
Winged Creatures (2007/2008)
Director:
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
Hope Floats (1998)
First Daughter (2004)
Source:Wikipedia
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