Forest Whitaker Quotes

#1. We have to not just open our eyes to what's going on in other places; we need to open our eyes to what's going on right in front of us.

Forest Whitaker

#2. Stereotypes do exist, but we have to walk through them.

Forest Whitaker

#3. I certainly don' think I could've played the character [Idi Amin] the same way without being in Uganda. I loved working in Uganda.

Forest Whitaker

#4. I do look at that thematic of healing of humanity.

Forest Whitaker

#5. I try to be like a forest: revitalizing and constantly growing.

Forest Whitaker

#6. I think the place fed me completely. Not only was I in Uganda, but I was around many people who had a personal relationship with Idi Amin. I was eating the food constantly. I was culturally hanging out with the people. You can't help but absorb the energy, and try to get inside the culture.

Forest Whitaker

#7. I've always wanted to do characters that would help me find my connection with others and connect all of us together. You always want the energy of the character, the spirit of the person, to enter you.

Forest Whitaker

#8. I'm just looking for characters that continue to make me stretch and grow and learn more about the human condition.

Forest Whitaker

#9. And God, God who believes in us all. And who's given me this moment, in this lifetime, that I will hopefully carry to the end of my lifetime into the next lifetime.

Forest Whitaker

#10. I try to serve the character all the time; this one took a lot of work and was consuming. It's like climbing up a ladder and sometimes you're afraid to face yourself so you make excuses; you avoid going to the top of the ladder and look in the mirror.

Forest Whitaker

#11. I like to play complex characters and the duality, and trying to reach for the light, it's more interesting really. I've gotten to play so many types of guys and I just try to find the humanity in each one of them the best I can.

Forest Whitaker

#12. Since Idi Amin was from the Sudanese section in the north of Uganda, he was darker skinned. He had more of a blue undertone. So, we did change the coloring of my skin to be closer to his. But otherwise, there were no transformations besides acting.

Forest Whitaker

#13. There's a thing you confront when you're going into something new and you come to this sort of abyss, and then you push yourself. It makes you try different things.

Forest Whitaker

#14. Until film is just as easily accessible as a pen or pencil, then it's not completely an art form. In painting you can just pick up a piece of chalk, a stick or whatever. In sculpture you can get a rock. Writing you just need a pencil and paper.

Forest Whitaker

#15. There are people [in Uganda] who hate Idi Amin, a small amount. And then there are the people who really admire him, like a hero. And then there's a large group who say, 'We know that all these murders and atrocities occurred, but he did all these great things.'

Forest Whitaker

#16. I started by studying Kiswahili to learn the dialect. Then, I studied tapes, documentaries, footage, and audio cassettes of Idi Amin's speeches. And I met with his brothers, his sisters, his ministers, his generals' all kinds of people, in order to try to understand him.

Forest Whitaker

#17. Because I was playing Idi Amin, who dealt with the colonisation issue, I became aware of this internalised conflict of what it means to be torn between cultures, what it means to be taken over by other cultures.

Forest Whitaker

#18. Visit to Africa reshaped my point-of-view of colonialism. It reshaped my point-of-view of my own sense of source, and my own place of birth. It made it more organic inside of me, because it placed me in a position where my job was to understand and to become more African.

Forest Whitaker

#19. I could never have gone to Africa another way and had the same experience. It was my job and my joy at the same time.

Forest Whitaker

#20. It is possible for a kid from east Texas, raised in south central LA and Carson, who believes in his dreams, commits himself to them with his heart, to touch them and to have them happen.

Forest Whitaker

#21. I really wasn't even sure if I should continue acting. I would like try and figure out if I could be good enough to do it. It was like 10 or 12 years into my career before I felt like maybe I can do it. It was such a different time than now.

Forest Whitaker

#22. When I was a kid, the only way I saw movies was from the back seat of my family's car at the drive-in.

Forest Whitaker

#23. In a lot of films, they're showing more complete, developed characters of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The larger concern is to be able to tastefully explore the stereotypes, and still move past them to see the core of people.

Forest Whitaker

#24. I can play a man who's despicable. But I'll still look inside him to find a point of connection. If I can find that kernel, audiences will relate to me.

Forest Whitaker

#25. I stay true, because whatever the project is, I'm still looking for inside of that character.

Forest Whitaker

#26. As an artist, it's a great opportunity to play a character like this [Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland]. And then, as a person, I had never been to the African continent. So, I knew, personally, it would reshape me.

Forest Whitaker

#27. I never acted in anything I've directed but I have produced a number of films and I have acted in some of the movies I've produced. Usually with first time filmmakers and pushing a move forward I have played a small role but never the lead.

Forest Whitaker

#28. In every project, I always look for the depth of humanity inside of it. I'm just trying to say if we can help in some way heal the equation with [Afro-Americans] what's going on with us as people.

Forest Whitaker

#29. It's a unique experience when you're doing an independent film where you have one person who puts up all the funds to make the film.

Forest Whitaker

#30. Trying to understand, inside, what it is to be Ugandan was crucial to the character, because there are Ugandan ways of doing things that I was trying to capture. Even if I had made this movie in South Africa, it would not have been the same, because it is so specific to Uganda.

Forest Whitaker

#31. I think the biggest thing that motivates me when I'm choosing a part is a role that will help me continue to grow as a person and as an artist, and a role that will deepen my understanding of humanity, and my connection to it.

Forest Whitaker

#32. I went through two schools of acting but I learned more about acting from meditating and from my marshall arts teacher.

Forest Whitaker

#33. I'm an actor. And I guess I've done so many movies I've achieved some high visibility. But a star? I guess I still think of myself as kind of a worker ant.

Forest Whitaker

#34. I care about people. In the end, I think they feel it. It comes across, regardless of the character I'm portraying.

Forest Whitaker

#35. The true wealth of a community is measured by how carefully it listens to its women and how sincerely it values their wisdom. Empowering women empowers us all.

Forest Whitaker