Forest Whitaker is a famous American actor, voice actor, film producer, TV and film director. Forest Steven Whitaker was born on July 15, 1961, in Longview, Texas. His main steps in his show business career Whitaker has made as an actor, not as a producer. At the beginning he mostly appeared in musicals, the first of them was “Fast Times at Ridgemon High” (released in 1982). Despite the fact Whitaker’s role in his first movie was really small, he showed himself as a talented actor and was noted by others.
Forest’s career to date has allowed him to accumulate net worth estimated at $40 million.
Forest Whitaker Net Worth $40 Million
In 1995 he proved his great acting talent and charisma when he both appeared in and produced the movie “Waiting to Exhale”. This romantic drama was also his film directorial debut, and received Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture award and several MTV movie awards too. Forest Whitaker really shot to prominence as an actor in 1998, after starring in the lead role in a biographical film about the famous American musician Charlie “Bird” Parker, “Bird”, directed by Clint Eastwood. The movie itself scored 74% on “Rotten Tomatoes” – website devoted to film reviews. Moreover, the actor earned several awards and considerable critical acclaim. After this outstanding performance, Whitaker’s career rose even more.
One more of Whitaker’s big moments was in 2006 for the role of Idi Amin in the movie called “The Last King of Scotland”, for which he received an Academy Award as the Best Actor.
His most recent and notable appearance was in the movie entitled “The Butler”, released in 2013, which is an American historical drama based on the real life of Eugene Allen. Forest Whitaker starred as the main character Cecil Gaines, who dedicated his life to be a professional domestic worker. This movie received five different awards and added a huge amount of money to Whitaker’s net worth.
Today Forest Whitaker lives with his wife Keisha Nash Whitaker – the couple married in 1996. They raise four children: their daughters True and Sonnet, Forest’s son from the previous relationship and Keisha’s daughter.
Forest Whitaker is known to be a vegetarian and the supporter of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Forest supports Barack Obama and is a chief among the Igbo community. Moreover, on June 21, 2011, Whitaker was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation in UNESCO. Today the famous actor supports all UNESCO’s activities and helps to empower young people to keep them away from the cycle of violence in the community. David Killion, UNESCO ambassador from United States, described Forest Whitaker as a person who feels compassion for every kind of humiliation and disgrace and he does his UNESCO job because it is the right thing to do.
