Biography of Forest Whitaker:- Forest Whitaker was the second of the children of the marriage formed by Forest Whitaker Jr., an insurance salesman, and Laura Francis Smith, a teacher.
The family moved to the Los Angeles area when Forest was a child. At the Palisades Institute, where he attended high school, Forest stood out as a defensive downer on the American football team, earning him a scholarship to California State Polytechnic University Pomona.
Biography of Forest Whitaker
- Born:- 15 July 1961 (age 56), Longview, Texas, United States
- Spouse:- Keisha Nash Whitaker (m. 1996)
- TV Shows:- Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, The Shield, Roots
- Awards:- Academy Award for Best Actor,
An ill-timed injury truncated what could have been a brilliant career in this discipline, and Forest reoriented her future by studying opera as a tenor at the University of Southern California Conservatory, where she graduated in 1982, and performed at Drama Studio London Berkeley (California).
See Also: Biography of Arthur Penn
Her big-screen debut came in 1982, with a small role in Amy Heckerling’s comedic thriller That Star, starring Sean Penn.
This first incursion would be followed by three interventions in blockbuster titles in the second half of the 1980s, Martin Scorsese’s Color of Money and Platoon by Oliver Stone both 1986 and the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), by Barry Levinson, in which he led the cast with Robin Williams.
Formed in those years in theater and television, the great opportunity came when Clint Eastwood decided to entrust the interpretation of the jazz musician Charlie Parker in the movie Bird (1988), a personal tribute from the director who may have been the best saxophonist Of history.
Forest prepared the paper conscientiously, confined in a loft where there was only one bed, a couch and a saxophone, and even received lessons to handle the instrument with ease.
His performance was clearly brilliant and earned him the best actor award at the Cannes International Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.
After this interpretation, which gained international recognition, he continued to work with renowned directors.
In 1992, under the direction of Neil Jordan, he filmed Juego de lágrimas , an excellent film with surprising changes of script and an interesting plot that combined IRA terrorism, solitude and the inscrutable ways of love, which was another great milestone of his career.
Three years later, he was one of the protagonists of Wayne Wang’s Smoke . The choral work, set in the borough of Brooklyn, with an elaborate script by the American writer and writer Paul Auster, won the jury’s special award in Berlin International Film Festival.
These outstanding titles would be followed by others like Phenomenon (1996), by Jon Turteltaub; Ghost Dog: Jim Jarmusch’s Road to the Samurai (1999), in which he played the character of the same name, a professional assassin obsessed with the codes of conduct of the samurai.
The distressing thrillers David Fincher’s Panic Room (2002), starring Jodie Foster, and Joel Schumacher’s Last Call (2002) with Colin Farrell; Mary (2005), by Abel Ferrara; And American Gun (2005) by Aric Avelino.
During these years the actor also made his forays into the small screen. He appeared in several episodes of the series Urgencias and in 2006 led the new version of the series of suspense Twilight Zone , at the same time that obtained the applause of the critic by its interpretation in the police the Shield: In the margin of the law , in the That gave the retort to Michael Chiklis.
In spite of being an author of great prestige and having carried out films of renown or of great success, the international consecration of the actor would arrive with the last king of Scotland (2006), a dramatic thriller in which Whitaker, under the orders of the documentary director Kevin MacDonald, played the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada.
An interesting film, with a memorable performance that would not leave anyone indifferent, in which he shared a poster with the young James McAvoy.
“The most difficult thing was to make him human, to look for his motivations”, the actor said about his character when he presented the film in Madrid in February 2007.
The film was a success of public and criticism, and for its performance the actor obtained multiple recognitions, including a Golden Globe, a Bafta prize and the first Oscar of its race, award that managed to snatch to four heavy weights of the interpretation: Leonardo DiCaprio , Will Smith , Peter O’Toole and Ryan Gosling.
Whitaker thus became the fourth African American who obtained the prized statuette, after Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx.
After the success of The Last King of Scotland , the career of the Whitaker-actor lived its sweetest moment. Hidden Truths was released (2007), in which the splendid interpreter gave life to an investigator of an insurance agency that travels to a remote town of Minnesota to investigate the death of a consummate swindler.
The film, co-starring an excellent Julia Stiles, went through prestigious festivals such as Sundance, Toronto or Karlovy Vary, and won, among other awards, the Fipresci Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the Cognac Festival.
On the other hand, Whitaker intervened in several titles in the running phase: Vantage Point , with Dennis Quaid, The air that breathes , carried out by Keven Bacon and shot in Mexico,
Since 1996 he has been married to actress Keisha Whitaker, with whom he has had two daughters, Sonnet and True.
Forest has a son from a previous relationship, Ocean, and a stepdaughter, Autumn. It is black belt of karate and vegetarian. In April 2007, in an emotional ceremony, he unveiled his star, number 2,335, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
