Born in Texas in 1961, Forrest Whitaker entered college on a sports scholarship at a young age, and after transferring to the University of Southern California, he began to focus on music studies and won two scholarships, after which he became interested in acting, with another scholarship at Berkeley. The tall, baby-faced black actor has played numerous roles, and his initial goal in life was to become a musician.
In 1986 he played a role in the film Field Platoon, and in 1987 he starred in the films Good Morning Vietnam and Emergency Stalking Order. In 1988, Clint Eastwood gave Forrest Whitaker a chance to play the great jazz musician Charlie Parker in the film Jazz Musician, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2006, in "The Last Dictatorship", Whitaker's almost perfect performance won him a round of applause, conquered the judges of major awards ceremonies in the United States, and successfully ascended to the throne of the 2007 Oscar, becoming the fourth black film emperor in oscar history.
Later, the biographical film "White House Butler" was released, in which Forrest Whitaker played the white house chief butler "Eugene Allen" who served the 8th president, and was nominated for best actor at the 20th Screen Actors Guild Awards for this role.
In 2013, Forrest Whitaker in New York was stopped and searched by employees suspected of stealing at an deli, which later became an employee error. The store employee immediately apologized for the incident, fearing that the employee would be fired, and Forrest Whitaker did not call the police.
Whitaker, 57, filed a divorce request with the court because of "irreconcilable conflicts" between the two parties. Whitaker and his wife, Kesha, married in 1996 and have two children together, Keisha is a model and actress who is 11 years younger than Whitaker.