Date of birth 15 July, 1951. Birth place Texas, USA. Birth name Forest Steven Whitaker Height 6' 2 " (188 cm) Forest Whitaker is an Oscar wining actor and a popular director.

Forest Whitaker is the fourth African American actor to have won an Oscar after Sindney Poiteir, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx. He was born in 1961 in Texas, USA amd later moved into L.A. where he pursued his passed out of Drama school. Whitaker was a popular footballer in his college days and is said to have played with NFL superstar Jay Schroeder.

Whitaker brought his name out in the 1982 in ‘Fast Times in Ridgemont High’, where he stars as a football player along with Nicholas Cage, Pheobe Cates and Sean Penn. Following this he played a minor role in Martin Scorcese’s film ‘The Color Of Money’ along with Tom Cruise and Paul Newman. Through out the 90s he has co stared in many films and towards the latter part went onto do his first title role in ‘Ghost Dog: The way of The Samurai’. Whitaker plays the role of a black mobster who is also pigeon lover and a Samurai-code follower.

It was in 2007, that he was awarded an Oscar for his role as Dictator Idi Amin in ‘The Last King of Scotland’. For his role he gained 50 pounds, learned Swahili and adapted the African English accent. He also learned the Accordion and did vivid research on Amin’s character. His role also earned him many other awards including the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA award for the best actor.

Many Movie critics and audience believe that this is just Whitaker’s start to high profile filming career that he is yet to see.