Forest Whitaker Fun Facts, Quotes and Tweets
3rd November 2015
Fact: Actor Forest Whitaker has signed up to play a very different African figure from the dictator Idi Amin, who he portrayed in the film The Last King of Scotland. According to Variety, Whitaker will star as Archbishop Desmond Tutu in The Archbishop and the Antichrist, a fictionalised account of the anti-apartheid clergyman's meetings with a racist mass murderer, who will be played by Vince Vaughn.
15th June 2015
Fact: Movie star Forest Whitaker is reportedly in talks to join the cast of the much-anticipated STAR WARS spin-off. The Oscar winner is close to signing on to join Felicity Jones, Sam Claflin and Diego Luna, among others, in Star Wars: Rogue One, according to Variety.
8th January 2015
Quote: "I'm talking to different producers right now to figure out what I might be able to do. I'm excited; when I was in college that was my goal. I was just going to come to New York and do theatre, that was the whole thing, I wasn't going to do film at all. (However), I started working in film and as I started working the parts started to become more interesting to me so I started getting caught up in that." Actor Forest Whitaker is hoping to make his Broadway debut this year (15).
29th November 2013
Fact: Actor Forest Whitaker showed off his musical skills by singing an impromptu version of Jesus is on the Mainline with U.S. breakfast show host Kelly Ripa on Live! with Kelly and Michael.
28th August 2013
Quote: "If I were to take a picture of this crowd right now, people would see some of your faces and the movements that are starting today. This is your moment to join those silent heroes of the past, individuals who stood in the very spot where you stand today. You now have the responsibility to carry the torch as we gather here... as hundreds of thousands did on this day 50 years ago." Movie star Forest Whitaker delivers a stirring address as he marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's iconic 'I have a dream...' civil rights speech, alongside stars including Jamie Foxx, Oprah Winfrey and Hill Harper and civil rights leaders like Rev. AL Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
27th August 2013
Fact: Oprah Winfrey, Jaime Foxx and Forest Whitaker will join U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (28Aug13) to mark 50 years since Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic I Have A Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
15th August 2013
Quote: "I got a butler coach, someone to teach me how to be a butler. He lived with me for a few weeks and he came down to New Orleans (Louisiana), where we were working. He taught me how to serve and also how to think for service. How to give with abundance, how to bring a smile to the principle's eyes as they say in the movie." Actor Forest Whitaker moved his coach into his home as he prepared for his title role in Lee Daniels' The Butler.
14th August 2013
Quote: "She smokes, so I smoked at the audition. I had an herbal cigarette - but I lit the wrong end!" Oprah Winfrey on preparing for her role as Forest Whitaker's hard-partying wife in Lee Daniels' The Butler.
8th March 2011
Fact: Slimmed-down movie star Forest Whitaker piled on the pounds to play Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland by eating high-calorie Ugandan fruit dish matoki for "breakfast, lunch and dinner". He says, "It tastes like potato, maybe sweeter."
28th November 2010
Quote: "We are completely overjoyed about the birth of Benjamin. We love them so much. This feels like full circle." Forest Whitaker's producer wife KEISHA is overjoyed for her pals John Travolta and Kelly Preston after becoming new parents to baby Benjamin last week (23Nov10).
8th March 2010
Fact: Forest Whitaker, Michael Sheen, Stanley Tucci, Peter Sarsgaard and Oprah Winfrey paid tribute to each of the Best Actress nominees prior to Sandra Bullock's big win at the Oscars on Sunday (07Mar10). Each star recalled anecdotes of working with those actors nominated.
1st June 2009
Fact: Leann Rimes, Chris Isaak and Forest Whitaker stunned the MTV Movie Awards audience and TV viewers by performing segments from comedian host Andy Samberg's comedy tunes at the prizegiving on Sunday (31May09). Rimes and Isaak teamed up to perform Jizz In My Pants and Lazy Sunday, and Whitaker showed off his opera voice with a classical rendition of the funnyman's Emmy Award winning D**k In A Box tune, which was first performed on comedy show Saturday Night Live with Justin Timberlake.
25th September 2008
Fact: Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Aniston have all shot a register-to-vote ad at Leonardo Dicaprio's Los Angeles home.
18th July 2008
Fact: Oscar winner Forest Whitaker won't have to face jury service on an upcoming indecent exposure trial. The movie star arrived at court in Los Angeles on Thursday (17Jul08) for jury selection but was excused from the case later in the day, reports website TMZ.com.
18th July 2008
Fact: Oscar winner Forest Whitaker faces a jury service stint if a judge chooses to call up the actor for a court panel. The movie star was spotted arriving at court in Los Angeles on Thursday (17Jul08) for jury selection into an upcoming indecent exposure trial.
2nd May 2008
Fact: Chart-topping rapper Lil Wayne will play a basketball star in Oscar winner Forest Whitaker's new film THE PATRIOTS.
5th April 2008
Quote: "They're named after different people that she's kissed... I don't know these guys and I try not to let it get to me because ignorance is bliss." Forest Whitaker on his wife KEISHA's lip-gloss line items, which are all named after men. One of them is called Forest.
27th December 2007
Fact: DENZEL WHITAKER, the teenage screen son of Forest Whitaker's character in Denzel Washington's new movie THE GREAT DEBATERS, played Macy Gray's kid in Training Day. The 17-year-old is not related to either Washington or Whitaker, despite his uncanny name link.
27th November 2007
Fact: One of the young stars of Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker's new movie THE GREAT DEBATERS is called DENZEL WHITAKER.
26th November 2007
Quote: "If you want to win an Oscar, you need to play a historical figure, or someone who's mentally ill. So the moment I saw that Forest was playing both, I knew I had no chance." Will Smith insists he expected his role in THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS to be beaten by Forest Whitaker's performance in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND for the Best Actor Academy Award earlier this year (07).
5th November 2007
Fact: Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker's wife has developed a new lipgloss line, called The First Kiss Collection, and each item is named after a boy or man she has kissed. Her favourite deep red lipgloss is called Forrest.
10th August 2007
Fact: Oscar winner Forest Whitaker's wife KEISHA NASH-WHITAKER is teaming up with make-up artist A.J. CRIMSON to launch a lip gloss line under Kissable Couture.
8th May 2007
Fact: Rapper/actor Common has signed up to star alongside Angelina Jolie in comic book adaptation Wanted, and Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker in THE NIGHT WATCHMAN.
16th March 2007
Quote: "Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND and Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for RAY, and then the WAYANS BROTHERS won a Razzie (Award) for little man, so all of the men I work with win something. I can't guarantee that it's something good." Kerry Washington insists she's almost always an actor's lucky charm.
16th March 2007
Quote: "Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND and Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for RAY, and then the WAYANS BROTHERS won a Razzie (Award) for little man, so all of the men I work with win something. I can't guarantee that it's something good." Kerry Washington insists she's almost always an actor's lucky charm.
4th March 2007
Quote: "The country has made my career, made Forest Whitaker's career, the director Kevin Macdonald's career. Every crew member and every cast member has had about three leg-ups the career ladder because of the film." James McAvoy, on the impact of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, about Uganda under Idi Amin's rule.
26th February 2007
Fact: Forest Whitaker gained 50 pounds (110 kilograms), used makeup to darken his skin, studied Swahili and learned to play the accordion for the role of Idi Amin in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.
25th February 2007
Quote: "FOREST called me last night and asked me if I would win for him tonight... But he better win tomorrow night; I've got a lot of money on him." HALF NELSON star Ryan Gosling on beating Forest Whitaker to the Best Male Lead award at yesterday's (24FEB07) Independent Spirit Awards.
20th February 2007
Fact: THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND star Forest Whitaker was born with strabismus, also known as a squint, a condition that affects his left eye.
19th February 2007
Fact: The cast of Oscar-tipped THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND returned to location in Uganda for the movie's African premiere last night (18FEB07). Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy were welcomed in capital city Kampala by a troupe of local dancers and drummers for the opening night of the Idi Amin biopic.
11th February 2007
Quote: "This means a lot because to be embraced by another shore is a special thing. I try to think of myself as a citizen of the planet... to touch people in the world." A moved Forest Whitaker after lifting the Best Actor BAFTA for his portrayal of Idi Amin in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.
9th February 2007
Fact: Forest Whitaker has picked up 21 critics and guild awards this awards season for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.
23rd January 2007
Quote: "I've been filling up my time so intensely that it's difficult to sit and ruminate about it - I think it's lucky that I have my mind in a lot of different places right now." Actor Forest Whitaker tries not to think about today's (23JAN07) Oscar nominations.
18th January 2007
Quote: "He's one of my best friends, and he's one of the most talented actors in the world. He deserves it like nobody's business." Kiefer Sutherland commenting on Forest Whitaker's Best Actor Golden Globe for his performance in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.
24th October 2006
Quote: "Thank you. I just bought a bike." Speaking at the London Film Festival, Forest Whitaker politely accepts a map of cycle routes in the Lambeth area from an environmental campaigner.
10th August 2006
Fact: Movie star Forest Whitaker is to play tyrannical late Ugandan President Idi Amin in new movie THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. The film will open the 50th London Film Festival in October (06).
Forest Whitaker
