Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Forest Whitaker fascinates me because he smuggles melancholy into every role, even the monstrous ones. His Oscar-winning turn in 2007 worked precisely because he refused to play a tyrant as pure evil; he found the charm first and let the menace leak through it. That instinct, I think, comes from a genuinely gentle man — a Texas-born actor who studied at Cal Poly Pomona and quietly built a second career directing and producing. France made him a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2021, which feels right: he is less a movie star than a craftsman of empathy. Few actors make stillness feel this loud.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Forest Whitaker
- Name (Japanese)
- フォレスト・ウィテカー
- Reading
- ふぉれすと・うぃてかー
- Born
- July 15, 1961 (age 65)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Ox
- Origin
- Longview, Texas, United States
- Occupation
- actor / film producer / film actor / television director / film director
2. Background
- High school
- Palisades Charter High School
- University
- California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Awards & achievements
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie
- 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor
- NAACP Image Award – Chairman's Award
- 2007 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
- 2017 Crystal Award
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- 2021 Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
- 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Forest Whitaker born?
Born July 15, 1961 (age 65).
Where is Forest Whitaker from?
Forest Whitaker is from Longview, Texas, United States.
What does Forest Whitaker do?
Forest Whitaker works as actor, film producer, film actor, television director, film director.
Actor — see all → · Film producer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.