**Forest Whitaker** is an American actor, producer, and director, renowned for his intense and multifaceted performances, which have earned him numerous awards. He reached the peak of his career by winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his powerful and disturbing transformation into the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the film *The Last King of Scotland* (2006).

His filmography ranges from early roles in acclaimed works such as *Platoon* (1986) and *Bird* (1988), for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of Charlie Parker. He is known for his ability to embody deep, often tormented or morally complex characters with a distinctive quiet intensity. Other notable roles include Jim Jarmusch's *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), *Panic Room* (2002), and more recently, *Arrival* (2016), *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story* (2016), and *Black Panther* (2018).