The Butler
Forest Whittaker has had an amazing film career over the preceding few decades . He is one of those actors who can take the character thespian persona while still play the leading in movies efficaciously . While he is let great reviews now for his new seriesGodfather of Harlem , Whitaker has also appear in some of the most acclaimed and popular films of all clip .
Whether it ’s turn in award - winning performance in prestigiousness dramas , lending some lordliness to self-aggrandizing blockbusters , or appearing in pocket-size indie films , Whitaker has played some awful function . While some might fly under the microwave radar , there are stack that have made their mark on celluloid account . Here are Forest Whitaker ’s most innovative pic performances .
Charles Jefferson (Fast Times At Ridgemont High)
Fast Times at Ridgemont Highis an 80s comedy bed for introducing actors who would go on to great success , like Sean Penn , Jennifer Jason Leigh , and Nicholas Cage . The picture show follows various students of the titulary high school as they have their own teenage misadventures .
Whitaker is just one small part of the expectant ensemble , but he does make an impression . He work the school ’s most dreadful football player who get a little motivating for the big game after his car is totaled . Whitaker ’s small appearance was memorable enough to get mass ’s attention in Hollywood .
Zuri (Black Panther)
Whitaker has long been a paladin of getting diverse stories told on the gravid screen so it ’s fitting that he would be imply in this groundbreaking ceremony motion-picture show . Black Pantherintroduced Wakanda to the MCU with Chadwick Boseman returning as T’Challa as he takes over as king and endeavor to protect the thrown .
Whitaker play Zuri , Wakanda ’s ghostly leader and near intimate of the B. B. King . He is also a homo with dark arcanum about Wakanda ’s past tense . The consuming critical and loge office success of this moving-picture show permit many doors to be open and emphasized the importanceof various news report in Hollywood .
Big Harold (Platoon)
Platoonis often regard as the full film made about the Vietnam War . Director Oliver Stone served in that war and he bring the candidly and brutality of his experience to this narrative . The film star Charlie Sheen as a newly make it soldier who is quickly introduced to the repulsion of warfare .
Whitaker has a supporting role as one of the many soldiers in the platoon . Though he can sometimes get suffer in the very declamatory cast , he does have some standout moments in which he partake thoughtful and heartbreaking views of the world .
Jody (The Crying Game)
The Crying Gamewas one of the most talked - about films of the 90s thanks to an unforgettable crook . However , the picture is much more interesting than that . The film follows a member of the IRA who becomes drawn into the world of a captured British soldier , peculiarly the man ’s fan .
Whitaker plays the British soldier who is carry hostage by the IRA . Even to have a digest persona in a pic that caused such a stir was a huge hike for Whitaker . The function show his skill as a character reference actor , fitting into a variety of stories .
Saw Gerrera (Rogue One)
Star Warshas grown to such a phenomenal cinematic dealership that it can get pretty much any histrion to join its massive universe . Whitaker got his hazard to travel to a galaxy far , far away in the twirl - off picture show , Rogue One . The film deals with the untold report of the brave rebels who steal the plans forthe Death Star .
Whitaker play see Gerrera , a Rebel fighter who is one of the more ambiguous characters in theStar Warsuniverse . Though he fights for a noble case , Gerrera is willing to do evil things to insure victory . Whitaker once again show his talent are as effective in the bigger film .
Burnham (Panic Room)
David Fincher is one of the most celebrated filmmakersof the modern era and his flick always guide a heap of aid . Panic Roomis one of his small films but remains a thoroughly entertaining thriller . Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart superstar as a female parent and daughter who lock themselves in a panic room when thieves break into their home .
Whitaker plays the more sympathetic of the thieves . The small ensemble real lets Whitaker beam in the high - visibility project . He once again examine that no issue the musical style he is in , he give a powerful and compelling public presentation .
Ghost Dog (Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai)
Jim Jarmusch is one of the most fecund indie director around and his leaning of film are improbably wide-ranging in their subject issue . wraith Dogis one of his more popular film and one of Whitaker ’s most popular execution . He star as a mafia hitman who lives his lifetime in the agency of the samurai .
The unusual crime story permit Whitaker to show a raw side of himself of the poetic and deadly man . Though not a mainstream bang , the movie has accomplish religious cult status and provided Whitaker with an iconic leading man role .
Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker (Bird)
Whitaker has play real - life figures many times in his vocation and such write up seem to be a favorite of Clint Eastwood as a theater director . The two artists came together to tell the fib of the legendary jazz instrumentalist , Charlie Parker inBird .
Not only was Whitaker tasked with bringing a beloved and complex character to living , but this also marks his first meter headline a celluloid . He proved to be more than up to the task , yield a herculean performance that helped launch his film career to large heights .
Cecil Gaines (The Butler)
Whitaker has an amazing power to convey and convey so much without verbalize . That tremendous science was very good for Whitaker ’s performance as Cecil Gaines inThe Butler . Gaines was a real - life history White House butler who process under five different president and find many of the defining moments in American history .
Whitaker is the star of the show , but he bring a character who must often rest in the background as an observer and someone for the most part overlooked . Whitaker pulls off the difficult task while still be a compelling build to catch .
Idi Amin (The Last King Of Scotland)
Idi Amin is probably the most infamous and complex character Whitaker portrayed in his life history . Amin was the brutal Ugandan dictator and this pic search his reign of power through the eyes of his medico .
This is an incredibly difficult use to get out off as Whitaker is require to be charismatic and charming as well as paranoid , violent and terrifying . He achieves this balancing act wonderfully and the role earned Whitaker his first Oscar for Best Actor .
NEXT : Jamie Lee Curtis ' 10 Best Roles , Ranked ( television & Film )
