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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 from this award-winning film. What should not be forgotten is that, although Williams puts in a memorizing performance, the ing cast is just as talented.
Forest Whitaker is one of those ing cast , 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.
ing (2021) 90%
Available To Stream On Netflix
ing 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.
