Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer and director. has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Oliver Stone‘s Platoon (1986), with Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, and Johnny Depp; Clint Eastwood‘s Bird (1988), which won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama; Neil Jordan‘s The Crying Game (1992), with Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Jaye Davidson; Wayne Wang’s Smoke (1995), with Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, and Stockard Channing; Phenomenon (1996), with John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall, and Jeffrey DeMunn; Jim Jarmusch‘s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, David Fincher‘s Panic Room (2002), with Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam; The Great Debaters (2007), directed by and starring Denzel Washington; Street Kings (2008), with Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Common and The Game; Lee Daniel’s The Butler (2013), with Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, James Marsden, Alan Rickman, and Robin Williams; and and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016), with Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
He has also appeared in blockbusters such as Gareth Edwards’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), with Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, and Jiang Wen; and Ryan Coogler‘s Marvel installment Black Panther (2018), with Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, and Andy Serkis.
For his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in Kevin Macdonald’s 2006 film The Last King of Scotland (co-starring James McAvoy and Kerry Washington), Whitaker won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and various critics groups’ awards for a lead acting performance.
Whitaker has also directed the films Waiting to Exhale (1995), with Whitney Houston, Bassett, Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine, Dennis Haysbert, Michael Beach, Gregory Hines, Donald Faison, and Mykelti Williamson; Hope Floats (1998), with Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr., Gena Rowlands, and Mae Whitman; and First Daughter (2004), with Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Tag: The Assassination Game (1982) – directed by Nick Castle
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) – directed by Amy Heckerling
- Vision Quest (1985) – directed by Harold Becker
- The Color of Money (1986) – directed by Martin Scorsese
- Platoon (1986) – directed by Oliver Stone
- Stakeout (1987) – directed by John Badham
- Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) – directed by Barry Levinson
- Bloodsport (1988) – directed by Newt Arnold
- Bird (1988) – directed by Clint Eastwood
- Johnny Handsome (1989) – directed by Walter Hill
- Downtown (1990) – directed by Richard Benjamin
- Diary of a Hitman (1991) – directed by Roy London
- A Rage in Harlem (1991) – directed by Bill Duke
- Article 99 (1992) – directed by Howard Deutch
- The Crying Game (1992) – directed by Neil Jordan
- Consenting Adults (1992) – directed by Alan J. Pakula
- Strapped (1993) – director only
- Bank Robber (1993) – directed by Nick Mead
- Body Snatchers (1993) – directed by Abel Ferrara
- Blown Away (1994) – directed by Stephen Hopkins
- Prêt-à-Porter (1994) – directed by Robert Altman – aka Ready to Wear
- Jason’s Lyric (1994) – directed by Doug McHenry
- Species (1995) – directed by Roger Donaldson
- Smoke (1995) – directed by Wayne Wang
- Waiting to Exhale (1995) – director only
- Phenomenon (1996)* – directed by Jon Turteltaub
- Body Count (1998) – directed by Robert Patton-Spruill
- Hope Floats (1998) – director only
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) – directed by Jim Jarmusch
- Light It Up (1999) – directed by Craig Bolotin
- Witness Protection (1999) – directed by Richard Pearce – TV movie
- Battlefield Earth (2000) – directed by Roger Christian
- Four Dogs Playing Poker (2000) – directed by directed by Paul Rachman
- The Fourth Angel (2001) – directed by John Irvin
- Jew Balloons (2001) – short
- The Hire: The Follow (2001) – directed by Wong Kar-wai – uncredited – short
- Green Dragon (2001) – directed by Timothy Linh Bui
- Panic Room (2002) – directed by David Fincher
- Phone Booth (2002)* – directed by Joel Schumacher
- Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004) – directed by Vadim Jean
- First Daughter (2004) – also director
- A Little Trip to Heaven (2005) – directed by Baltasar Kormákur
- American Gun (2005) – directed by Aric Avelino
- Mary (2005) – directed by Abel Ferrara
- Even Money (2006) – directed by Mark Rydell
- The Marsh (2006) – directed by Jordan Barker
- Everyone’s Hero (2006) – directed by Colin Brady, Christopher Reeve & Daniel St. Pierre
- The Last King of Scotland (2006) – directed by Kevin Macdonald
- The Air I Breathe (2007) – directed by Jieho Lee
- Ripple Effect (2007) – directed by Philippe Caland
- The Great Debaters (2007) – directed by Denzel Washington
- Vantage Point (2008) – directed by Pete Travis
- Street Kings (2008) – directed by David Ayer
- Dragon Hunters (2008) – directed by Arthur Qwak & Guillaume Ivernel – English dub
- Winged Creatures (2008) – directed by Rowan Woods
- Powder Blue (2009) – directed by Timothy Linh Bui
- Where the Wild Things Are (2009) – directed by Spike Jonze
- Hurricane Season (2009) – directed by Tim Story
- Repo Men (2010)* – directed by Miguel Sapochnik
- Lullaby for Pi (2010) – directed by Benoit Philippon
- My Own Love Song (2010) – directed by Olivier Dahan
- The Experiment (2010) – directed by Paul T. Scheuring
- Our Family Wedding (2010) – directed by Rick Famuyiwa
- Catch .44 (2011) – directed by Aaron Harvey
- Freelancers (2012) – directed by Jessy Terrero
- A Dark Truth (2012) – directed and written by Damian Lee
- Ernest & Celestine (2012) – directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar & Benjamin Renner – English dub
- The Last Stand (2013)* – directed by Kim Jee-woon
- Zulu (2013) – directed by Jérôme Salle
- Pawn (2013) – directed by David A. Armstrong
- The Butler (2013)* – directed by Lee Daniels
- Black Nativity (2013) – directed by Kasi Lemmons
- Out of the Furnace (2013) – directed by Scott Cooper
- Repentance (2014) – directed by Philippe Caland,
- Two Men in Town (2014) – directed by Rachid Bouchareb
- Taken 3 (2014) – directed by Olivier Megaton
- Dope (2015) – directed by Rick Famuyiwa – also producer
- Southpaw (2015) – directed by Antoine Fuqua
- Arrival (2016) – directed by Denis Villeneuve
- Rogue One (2016)* – directed by Gareth Edwards
- Sorry to Bother You (2018) – directed by Boots Riley – also producer
- Burden (2018) – directed by Andrew Heckler
- Black Panther (2018) – directed by Ryan Coogler
- The Forgiven (2018) – directed by Roland Joffé
- How It Ends (2018) – directed by David M. Rosenthal
- City of Lies (2018) – directed by Brad Furman
- Finding Steve McQueen (2019) – directed by Mark Steven Johnson
- Jingle Jangle (2020) – directed by David E. Talbert
- Respect (2020) – directed by Liesl Tommy
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