Top 35 Forest Whitaker Quotes

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.

I stay true because whatever the project is, I’m still looking for inside of that character. It’s the thing that connects him to me and to everybody else. So, the search is the same. It’s to unveil the truth, and that’s how I stay true, because my purpose isn’t altered.

It’s tough when you have to be away. But I’m probably at home more than my dad was because he was working two or three jobs sometimes.

I’ve been trying to understand conflict and violence ever since I was a kid. You know. There were a few things that happened even on my block – the Black Panthers used to be right around the corner from where we were.

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.

I go back and forth between indie and studio because I feel like it, not because I feel obligated to do one or the other.

Cinema and the arts invite viewers to focus on a story and, in doing so, peel away its layers and peer into the depths of the human soul.

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

For many child soldiers, war and violence are all they have ever known. If we don’t take it upon ourselves to show them an alternative, then they’re going to be soldiers forever, and they’ll continue to be recruited and to participate in violence if another conflict starts five or 10 years down the road.

The first time I ever went out of the country, it was to London. I was with the choir from my college, and we were touring around all these different churches. I loved it so much I tried to find a way to stay there.

Look – I’m an African-American. I’m black. But I’m just looking at the character and trying to find his soul, his energy. If you can wipe away the blanket of skin and flesh that people tend to see, and look inside for the essence of the soul, then that’s the work I’m doing. That’s the work I always do.

I’m fascinated by the capacity to be able to do harm. I struggle every day with the ability of people to do evil. Not just the big things – the petty things that people do in order to make someone feel small, when it’s so easy to do, and it hurts so much.

I think the only consistent thing is that I like projects that explore different social themes. ‘Our Family Wedding’ is a comedy, but it deals with two different cultures coming together. It’s also about people letting go.

You have to ask if the country would have been ready for Barack Obama if we hadn’t been prepared by Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. If they hadn’t already been in positions of enormous power and influence – secretary of state, secretary of defence – you know what I mean?

I always try to remain aware that what affects others affects me, too.

Good science fiction is always based in contemporary truths.

There’s a molecule inside of you that is connected to everything – every person, every energy, every thing. You look for it, and when you find it, then you allow it to magnify and grow and be the dominating chemistry inside of you.

To try and act like we haven’t had great progress is not true. Obama didn’t fail – he changed the psyche of the nation and, in some ways, the world.

I fell through a stage once. I was doing a truly African dance, and all of a sudden, I hit the ground with my foot and went straight through the stage. I guess they didn’t have much money, so the floor was kind of rotting.

Many of the wars we see around the world start as domestic conflicts that are fueled by external forces and powers. My view is that we can help peace if we help communities transform from the inside, on their own terms.

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.

My wife is completely different from me: she’s good with everyone, whereas I’m good at directed conversation when I have a purpose for it, like now. If everyone’s sitting around being social, I’m not great.

Fame allows you a lot of opportunities to experience new things and connect with people. But on the other hand, people’s perceptions of you can limit the scope of your relationships with them. You walk both lines.

It’s a contract of connection to be in the same space and watch and listen to stories and be caught in them. When you’re in a theater, your brain expands because somebody in the theater may do something or respond to something that you wouldn’t have.

If there is inequality, and that equates with colour, then I’m going to deal with it.

Our leaders must hear us speaking on behalf of our brothers and sisters in South Sudan. If the moral duty to save lives and work toward peace is not compelling enough to drive decision-makers, we must remind them that we care and will hold them accountable.

I try to support stories that enable us to see the difficulties in our society and the challenges we face, which is why I’ve also produced documentaries like ‘Brick City’ and ‘Serving Life.’

I’m always surprised when an actor goes so deeply into the truth that they shake you to your core.

It’s hard for me to judge my own films as an artist sometimes. But as an artist, I did feel a fulfillment working on them, you know?

I’ve had many incidents in my life of racism. I’ve been thrown on the ground. I’ve been frisked. I’ve been arrested so many times I couldn’t tell you. I have no need to talk about it.

I was in middle school right around the time the Bloods and the Crips started taking root in Compton and a lot of the other neighborhoods around me. I saw way too many of my peers – smart, kind, good kids – who got drawn into gangs and violence, and their futures were going to be forever scarred by that.

I see a deep connection between peace and change: peace always starts from within, for communities and people alike. The same is true of change: real change starts from within.

If I go to a reunion in east Texas, my mother’s side or my father’s, one out of ten is a preacher or a teacher. That’s just the way it is in my family.

The characters I’ve portrayed may outwardly be quite different from one another, but I’ve found that they’re also intrinsically linked.

I try to be like a forest, revitalizing and constantly growing… Kids would tease me, calling me ‘Little Bush.’ But… I thought being called Forest helped me find my identity.