Forest Whitaker Bio | Wik
Forest Whitaker is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He made his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982.
Apart from his acting career, Whitaker is also known for his humanitarian work and activism. In 2011, he was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, later receiving a promotion to Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation. He serves as the CEO of Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), a non-profit outreach program.
Forest Whitaker Age
Whitaker was born on July 15, 1961, in Longview, Texas, United States. He is 61 years old.
Forest Whitaker Height
He is a man of tall stature and stands at a height of 6 ft 3 in (Approx. 1.88 m).
Forest Whitaker Family
He was born in Longview, Texas, to his parents Laura Francis and Forest E. Whitaker Jr. Whitaker’s mother was a special education teacher who put herself through college and earned two master’s degrees while raising her children. His father was an insurance salesman.
A DNA test has shown that his mother had Akan ancestry, while his father was of Igbo descent. When Whitaker was in elementary school, his family moved to Carson, California. He has two younger brothers and an older sister. His first role as an actor was the lead in Dylan Thomas’s play Under Milk Wood.
Forest Whitaker Wife
Whitaker married actress Keisha Nash in 1996. The two met on the set of Blown Away. They have four children: two daughters together Sonnet and True, and his son Ocean Alexander and Keisha’s daughter Autumn from their previous relationships. In December 2018, Whitaker filed for divorce from Nash, citing irreconcilable differences.
Forest Whitaker Education
He attended Palisades Charter High School, where he played on the football team and sang in the choir, graduating in 1979. Whitaker entered California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on a football scholarship, but a back injury made him change his major to music. He toured England with the Cal Poly Chamber Singers in 1980.
While still at Cal Poly, he briefly changed his major to drama. He later transferred to the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor and was subsequently accepted into the university’s Drama Conservatory.
Subsequently, Whitaker graduated from USC with a BFA in acting in 1982. He then took a course at Drama Studio London at its now-defunct California branch. He was pursuing a degree in “The Core of Conflict: Studies in Peace and Reconciliation” at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2004.
Forest Whitaker Godfather of Harlem
Since 2019, Whitaker has been starring as Bumpy Johnson in Godfather of Harlem. It is a series on EPIX which explores the intersection between the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The series is written by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein and stars Whitaker as 1960s New York City gangster Bumpy Johnson.
Whitaker is also an executive producer alongside Nina Yang Bongiovi, James Acheson, John Ridley, and Markuann Smith. Chris Brancato acts as a showrunner. On February 12, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on April 18, 2021. On January 13, 2022, the series was renewed for a third season which is scheduled to premiere on January 15, 2023.
Forest Whitaker Eye
Whitaker’s left eye ptosis has been called “intriguing” by the critic Susan Wloszczyna, with the writer Stephanie Zacharek maintaining that it gives him “a sleepy, contemplative look”.[110] Whitaker has explained that the condition is hereditary and that he has considered having surgery to correct it, not for cosmetic reasons but because it affects his vision.
Forest Whitaker Nigeria
A DNA test has shown that his mother had Akan ancestry, while his father was of Igbo descent. Whitaker’s ancestry has been traced to Nkwerre in the Imo State of Nigeria.
On April 6, 2009, he was given a chieftaincy title in Imo State, Nigeria. Whitaker, who was named a chief among the Igbo community of Nkwerre, was given the title Nwannedinamba of Nkwerre, which means A Brother in a Foreign Land.
Forest Whitaker Movies
2011 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
2012 Serving Life
2013 Africa Narrator
2016 Roots
2017 Star Wars Rebels
2017–2018 Empire
2019–present Godfather of Harlem
2022 Young Rock
2018 How It Ends
2018 City of Lies
2019 Finding Steve McQueen
2020 Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
2021 Respect
2023 Havoc
TBA Megalopolis
Forest Whitaker Net Worth
He earns his wealth from his career, therefore, he has amassed a fortune over the years. Whitaker’s estimated net worth is $25 million.
Who Is Forest Whitaker
He is a 61-year-old American actor. Whitaker is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He made his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982.