Forest Whitaker III was born July 15, 1961. Whitaker has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird, Platoon, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and The Butler, and for his work in independent films, and for his recurring role on the Emmy Award-winning television series The Shield. For his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker won the Academy Award, British Academy Film Award, Golden Globe Award, National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and various critics groups awards. Whitaker has a long history of working with well-regarded film directors and actors, as well as, for a brief period of time, working in direct-to-video films alongside novice actors such as Lil Wayne, Maggie Grace, and 50 Cent. In his first onscreen performance of note, he had a supporting role playing a high school football player in the 1982 film version of Cameron Crowe's coming-of-age teen-retrospective Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money and Oliver Stone's Platoon. The following year, he co-starred in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam. In 1988, Whitaker appeared in the film Bloodsport and had his first lead role starring as musician Charlie "Bird" Parker in Clint Eastwood's Bird.

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