From 'Fast Times' to 'Rogue One' Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker looks back at his varied résumé

By Emily Zemler

Dec. 24, 2016 6 AM PT

For Forest Whitaker, a film or television role should be accompanied by some kind of lesson. The 55-year-old actor, born in Texas, is interested in gaining new experiences and insights with each project – regardless of whether that project is well received or not.

“They all taught me different things,” Whitaker says, reflecting on the characters he’s portrayed. “I’m always hoping to learn and grow, so that’s how I make a lot of my choices as an artist. I think all my parts have that for me, in some way. I always try to make that transformation part be there.”

Whitaker, who got his start in the high school flick “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” has embodied characters ranging from jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (the latter earning him a lead actor Oscar), usually basing his work on research and background knowledge. Even his latest role in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” involved some digging. “You have to build all that backstory to understand and for the truth to resonate in some way, for me,” he says.

The IMDB Files: Hollywood star reflect on their key roles »

The actor’s role in “Rogue One” is small but essential, and he also currently appears in Oscar contender “Arrival” alongside Amy Adams. Whitaker was interested in joining the “Star Wars” universe for a lot of reasons, but he was especially gratified to be part of a film that embraced real diversity. “It’s exciting when a film represents the world in all its different colors and shapes and flavors,” Whitaker says.

Here the actor reflects back on some of his key roles to date.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Saw Gerrera (2016)

“It was exciting to get to contribute to the saga of ‘Star Wars,’ since I’ve been watching it since I was a young kid. It was an amazing opportunity to play this character who was living in a gray area. He’s somebody who’s so committed to doing the right thing to save humanity that he ends up compromising some of his own humanity in doing so. I had an excitement about trying to take it on, and then I took it on in the same way I do with most of the characters I do. I started doing research and figuring out the way he walks and talks and thinks. It all fell together.”

“Arrival,” Col. Weber (2016)

“I love the movie because it really deals with communication. It deals with preconceived notions and ideas and having to drop them to not cause conflict and problems. It’s about connecting through our deeper understanding of each other. ‘Arrival’ has some deeply rooted pieces about time and what time means. Is time always going to be this way, or is there a way for us to stand up and move it into a space that’s more filled with light and positivity?”

“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” Cecil Gaines (2013)

“In a way, it taught me about transcendence. It was something I had to learn, the ability to live with silence and to connect so deeply that you ascend into transcendence. It taught me to allow that magic carpet, where all those things are happening, to flow. ”

“The Last King of Scotland,” Idi Amin (2006)

“I knew it was an amazing project and an amazing script and a universe I didn’t know. Being African American is one thing, but to be from Africa and feel the vibrations of that earth and be able to live like that was a different sort of energy. I had to learn that. I had an amazing opportunity to be sent there. It was the first time I had actually ever been to Africa. To be there on this journey of discovery and to learn what it meant to be from East Africa and Uganda and his tribe there. I got down to the kernel of who he was. All the research, all the people I met and interviews, all the feelings helped me absorb and find this particular man in the way I played him in this particular film.”

“Battlefield Earth,” Ker (2000)

“I watched ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ when I was young, and there was a character in it who had this big line that said, ‘I’m not an animal, I’m a man!’ I’ll always remember it. That character reminded me of the character they wanted me to play in ‘Battlefield Earth,’ so I thought it was an interesting way to explore it. I judge my work differently than others and I got a lot from it. Some of the things people think are my deepest failures are my biggest triumphs. The film had some limitations. But what I gained, what I was trying to do and why I did it still remained true.”

“Bird,” Charlie “Bird” Parker (1988)

“It taught me about living out on a limb and being able to know that I can dance out on a limb. I know that I may fall, but I’ll be OK. That was a very important lesson.”

“Platoon,” Big Harold (1986)

“I’ve done four movies on Vietnam and I still don’t understand it completely. It was a challenging project to work on. We went through deprivation training, psychological training. We were put out in the middle of the jungle in the Philippines and given shovels and told to dig a hole and told that’s where we would sleep for the next few weeks. We had a few rations of water a day. We ate sea rats. We were only allowed to sleep two hours up and two hours down every night. Once we got lost in the jungle for days without water, all orchestrated by Oliver Stone. But all of us were young actors, so we just wanted to be working.”

“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” Charles Jefferson (1982)

“I had been playing football in college and they were casting the part of a football player. At that time, for a minute in my life, I was really skinny. I had to gain, like, 50 pounds to play the part. They wanted him to be on the bigger side. It started a lot of our careers – my career, Sean Penn’s career, Jennifer Jason Leigh. It was a beginning for all of us. It taught me what it means to commit to your work and try to do something true, no matter what it is you’re doing.”