Career and Life

​

Forest Steven Whitaker III is an American actor, producer, and director who has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird, The Crying Game, Platoon, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Great Debaters, The Butler, and Arrival.

​

He has also appeared in blockbusters such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Saw Gerrera and Black Panther as Zuri.

​

For his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and various critics groups' awards for a lead acting performance.

​

In 1996, Whitaker married actress Keisha Nash, whom he met on the set of Blown Away. They have four children: two daughters together (Sonnet and True), and his son (Ocean) and her daughter (Autumn) from their previous relationships. In December 2018, Whitaker filed for divorce from Nash, citing irreconcilable differences.

​

Whitaker studies yoga and has a black belt in kenpō. He also trains in eskrima under Dan Inosanto.

​

Whitaker's left eye ptosis has been called "intriguing" by some critics and gives him "a lazy, contemplative look". 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.

​

​

​

​

Source.

​