Forest Whitaker

Description: Whitaker made his film debut at the age of 21 in the raucous comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) wherein he played, quite naturally, a footballer. He went on to play another student pigskin player in his second film Vision Quest (1985). Gaining experience on TV as well with featured spots on such varied shows as "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Cagney & Lacey," not to mention the TV-movie Civil War epic "North and South" (1985) (mini) and its sequel, the movie that truly put him on the map, however, was The Color of Money (1986). His one big scene as a naive-looking pool player who out-hustles Paul Newman's Fast Eddie Felson was pure electric. This led to more visible roles in the "A" class films Platoon (1986), Stakeout (1987) and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), which culminated in his breakout lead portrayal of the tortured jazz icon Charlie "Bird" Parker in Clint Eastwood's passion project Bird (1988), for which Whitaker won the Cannes Film Festival award for "best actor" and a Golden Globe nomination.