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- Forest Whitaker is returning to the role of Saw Gerrera in the galaxy far, far away and fans are continuing to praise his work across his storied career. It's a great time to revisit some of his best credits, each of which has been given a fantastic review from the aggregate site Rotten
Forest Whitaker is a phenomenal actor with a deep body of work to choose from. He's been both a giant of film and television and has starred in some of the biggest franchises in the world. He's also won plenty of awards for his amazing performances.
Given that his resume is astoundingly long and his career in entertainment has spanned decades, fans of the actor's work will never lack options to choose from. However, Rotten Tomatoes has singled out their most acclaimed work by Forest Whitaker, so anyone looking for his best projects should start here.
UPDATE: 2022/10/06 12:11 EST BY GEORGE CHRYSOSTOMOU
Forest Whitaker is returning to the role of Saw Gerrera in the galaxy far, far away and fans are continuing to praise his work across his storied career. It's a great time to revisit some of his best credits, each of which has been given a fantastic review from the aggregate site Rotten
Tomatoes.
Dope (2015) 88%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
Dope is a fantastic coming-of-age story with a difference, focusing on a geeky high schooler who is in way over his head, embarking on a drug-running expedition. It's funny, poignant, and shows a unique perspective of what it's like to grow up in the modern world.
While Forest Whitaker isn't a significant character in the production, his stunning voice does lend itself to the narration of the movie. He also acts as the producer on Dope, lending the production some of his brilliant knowledge from years of hard work in the industry.
Platoon (1986) 89%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
Platoon focuses on a group of soldiers during the Vietnam war. With conflicts ensuing between the leadership of a particular group of fighters in this high-stress situation, battle lines and alliances are drawn in an incredibly tense production.
It's a harrowing work of film with an all-star cast, and one of the earlier features in Forest Whitaker's filmography that really grabs the attention of the audience. Whitaker plays Big Harold, one of the soldiers under commander Mark Wolfe, who suffers significant injuries in the war.
Stakeout (1987) 89%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
Stakeout was an action comedy that focused on two detectives carrying out an important case. The investigation gets complicated when the girlfriend of an ex-convict, who is being observed, ends up falling in love with one of the very detectives watching her.
Forest Whitaker took the role very early into his career, but it was a chance for him to show off his skills within the realms of comedy. The character he played was Jake Pismo, who worked within the police department and aided the detectives in their case.
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020) 89%
Available To Stream On Netflix
Netflix looked to create a unique musical Christmas movie with gorgeous visuals and a brilliant cast. They achieved this with Jingle Jangle, which focused on a bright inventor who wanted to bring back the magic to her family's workshop through her own unique designs.
Forest Whitaker plays the young girl's grandfather, Jeronicus, who needed to find his spirit once again. It's an inspirational character with a big imagination, with Whitaker playing into both the sadness and the jovial nature of the inventor with such ease and talent.
Good Morning Vietnam (1987) 89%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
The classic cry of "Good Morning Vietnam" by Robin Williams over the radio is what most people remember from this award-winning film. What should not be forgotten is that, although Williams puts in a memorizing performance, the supporting cast is just as talented.
Forest Whitaker is one of those supporting cast members, stepping into the role of Edward Garlick. The film takes place throughout the Vietnam war and has become a widely regarded classic in the cinema world.
Passing (2021) 90%
Available To Stream On Netflix
Passing is a complex romantic film about race, love, persecution, and injustice in the 1920s. It utilizes its talented cast to perfection and boasts a black-and-white visual style that is simply gorgeous. It's a very personal film that still manages to capture the period in which its set and relate that to a current audience.
Forest Whitaker does not actually appear in the movie at all. Instead, he produced the piece, demonstrating that just like with Nope, he has a lot to offer behind the camera as well. Perhaps this is a future career move for Whitaker.
Smoke (1995) 90%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
The fifteen-chapter film Smoke is all about a cigar store and all of the people that interact with it. Whitaker is one of those elusive people.
He portrays Cyrus Cole, one of the patrons of the Brooklyn Cigar Company that the central figure of the story, Auggie, winds up chronicling during the film. The artistically-inclined film might not be one of Whitaker's most famous projects, but it is still one of his best.
Food Chains (2014) 91%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
This film is actually a full-length documentary in Forest's body of work. The veteran actor provided his smooth voice to this project as a narrator.
The voice-over work of Whitaker on the film really helped to create a bit of prestige for the project. The film follows the food industry in the United States and the people who are abused through the system, and it is an interesting and socially relevant catalog of the many facets of the agricultural industry that needs to change in America.
Sorry To Bother You (2018) 93%
Available To Rent On Apple TV
Forest has a producing credit on this film once again and was heavily involved in its production. However, he does also have a brief role in the project, although the cast is more focused around young up-and-coming actors, like Tessa Thompson.
The unique and bizarre film is all about a phone salesman who quickly rises up the ranks of the industry into a strange and confusing world. It's a bit of a parallel to the real world, but it featured a lot of interesting societal critiques and managed to be genuinely shocking.
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015) 94%
Available To Stream On Fubo
Forest Whitaker owns his own production company which is dedicated to telling unique stories. Although he does not have a starring role, Songs My Brother Taught Me is a proud piece of Whitaker's work about a Native American community and a relationship between siblings.
The film takes on a unique perspective and explores a point of view that is commonly ignored in cinema, and based on critical and audience reaction, it's obvious that these are avenues cinephiles want to see examined more often.
The Crying Game (1992) 94%
Available To Stream On HBO Max
This tense thriller is extremely political and uses Forest in a really unique way. The performance put in from Whitaker is astounding, but there's a lot more at play in this game of life and death. The film actually surrounds the Irish troubles.
The IRA kidnap Whitaker's Jody, who is a British soldier. It's deeply impactful and very representative of some of the real-world struggles that Ireland has faced. It is also one of the earliest and most intriguing examples of mainstream queer cinema.
Fruitvale Station (2013) 94%
Available To Stream On Paramount+
This is another one of Whitaker's producing credits and a film that any producer would be proud of. Michael B. Jordan is the star of this emotional and fantastically produced tale inspired by true events.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, this is a fictionalized account of the killing of Oscar Grant, a man who was shot by a BART police officer in the Fruitvale station in Oakland, California. The story shows a great deal of respect to its tragic inspiration and is an insightful examination of police brutality in America.
Arrival (2016) 95%
Available To Stream On Showtime
One of the best sci-fi films of the decade, Arrival added something truly unique to the genre. It starred some massive names including Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner and was all about communicating with an alien species that have appeared on Earth for the first time.
Whitaker plays a military figure that refreshingly doesn't just want to shoot at the aliens that have invaded. This is a story about language and prejudice and garnered another fantastic on Rotten Tomatoes, showing how consistent Whitaker's work really is.
Black Panther (2018) 96%
Available To Stream On Disney+
The superhero film featuring Marvel's Black Panther was a game-changer for the media giant. Forest Whitaker also gets credit for starring one of the best films of its year and one of the highest-rated superhero films ever.
The tale of the African nation of Wakanda and the fight for its throne captured the imagination of audiences across the world. Whitaker plays a small but vital role in the film, alongside Michael B. Jordan with the film directed by Ryan Coogler.
Mysteries of the Unseen World (2013) 100%
Available To Stream On Pure Flix
Ironically, the highest-rated film in Forest Whitaker's career is not one where he is acting. In fact, he's only providing the voice-over for this Nat Geo project that managed to take critics by storm and impress audiences across the United States.
The film is all about accessing parts of nature that were previously never seen before, often using specific nano-technology. It's breathtakingly beautiful and groundbreaking, earning it a very rare 100% on the reviewing site Rotten Tomatoes.