Forest Whitaker is an American actor known for his recurring role of LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh in the highly popular TV series ‘The Shield’. Known for his method acting to pursue his characters, some of the most notable Forest Whitaker roles include his appearances in films like ‘Bird’, ‘The Butler’, ‘Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai’ and ‘Platoon’.
Forest Whitaker has worked with some big directors and won universal critical acclaim, including an Academy award for his performance in the film ‘The Last King of Scotland’. He started his career in the early 80s with the film ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ and followed the early success with ‘Platoon’ and ‘The Colour of Money’. Then he reached the peak of success by the late 80s owing to his fascinating performance in Clint Eastwood directed ‘Bird’, which earned him the best actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
While almost all the roles he played during his illustrious career were notable, his best roles are considered to be in the films ‘Bird’, ‘The Last King of Scotland’ and ‘Panic Room’. He received a lot of criticism for his role in the film ‘Battlefield Earth’, which is widely known to be the worst Forest Whitaker film ever.