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" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Kind
Done
Movies
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" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Me
School
Smart
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Soul
People
Looking
" Directing is more comfortable for me because, as an actor, there's always something inherently false. Because I'm not that person. "
Forest Whitaker
Actor
Always
Person
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Texas
Teacher
Mother
" If there is inequality, and that equates with colour, then I'm going to deal with it. "
Forest Whitaker
Inequality
Going
Colour
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Talk
You
Life
" In a lot of films, they're showing more complete, developed characters of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The larger concern is to be able to tastefully explore the stereotypes, and still move past them to see the core of people. "
Forest Whitaker
See
People
Stereotypes
" I am just back from South Sudan, one of the world's most fragile nations. For years, I have been moved by the kind people who maintain hope that they will live to see peace. My heart has ached for them, as they have endured pain and violence that make such hope feel out of reach. "
Forest Whitaker
Hope
Live
Pain
" 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? "
Forest Whitaker
You
Artist
Feel
" I was a curious child. I'd debate with anyone who came to the door - people from the Islamic community... Jehovah's Witnesses... anyone. "
Forest Whitaker
Door
Child
Community
" When we talk about the issue of child soldiers, it can be easy to focus just on ending recruitment and liberating those boys and girls who are currently being held in military camps. Obviously, both of these are incredibly important goals, but it's also essential that we not forget about former child soldiers once they are liberated. "
Forest Whitaker
Important
Child
Focus
" I want a director who can let me feel that he's listening and watching and that he's got me covered. That security is really important for me because sometimes you go into a vulnerable space, and you want to be able to look to somebody because you get insecure: 'Did I do that right?' "
Forest Whitaker
Space
Listening
Look
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Identity
Growing
Forest
" I care about people. In the end, I think they feel it. It comes across, regardless of the character I'm portraying. "
Forest Whitaker
Care
Think
People
" I'd spend every summer in Longview on my grandfather's farm. It was a tiny little town divided by a river, which was the segregation line: that side white, this side black. And meanwhile, I lived in Compton - basically, another whole world sealed into 10 square blocks. It's interesting how insular an environment can be. "
Forest Whitaker
Summer
World
River
" I think 'The Color of Money' was very instrumental in opening up other opportunities. People started to recognize me as an artist after that film. And then, after I did 'Bird,' it was more solidified. "
Forest Whitaker
Color
Money
Me
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Violence
Know
Conflict
" May we remain connected in love. We are one. "
Forest Whitaker
May
Connected
Love
" I've been fortunate, I guess: I've gotten to play a lot of very diverse roles for quite a long time. But in the beginning, I was thinking, 'I'm not gonna do certain characters. I will be willing to say no and live on a couch.' And I was really happy. "
Forest Whitaker
Live
Happy
Time
" In life, there's a ladder sometimes, and maybe at the top, there's a mirror. You take a step up, then maybe three steps down... just because you don't want to face the decloaking in the mirror. "
Forest Whitaker
Face
Mirror
Life
" I'd been reading Eastern philosophy since I was a kid. And I meditated. I did it on a daily basis. It's the one thing I do with any consistency. Meditation gives you a different kind of mindset. It's very powerful. "
Forest Whitaker
Daily
Reading
Powerful
" I always try to remain aware that what affects others affects me, too. "
Forest Whitaker
Try
Too
Others
" As an actor, I've always wanted to do characters that would help me find my connection with others and connect all of us together. You always want the energy of the character, the spirit of the person, to enter you. I've been doing this for 26 years and some of the things I've done are always with me. "
Forest Whitaker
Help
Character
Energy
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Stage
Dance
Doing
" I think I've made some choices that maybe I wasn't so sure about for some reason or another. But I'm one of the lucky ones. Even when I was young, I played Bird, and that's a role people wait for their whole lifetime. "
Forest Whitaker
Role
Bird
Wait
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Energy
Chemistry
Look
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Walk
New Things
Experience
" I always stand up for what I believe and what I want to. "
Forest Whitaker
Stand
Stand Up
I Believe
" I submerged myself in all the information that I could find about Idi Amin. I mean, before I left Los Angeles, I was studying Kiswahili. I was working on the dialect. I was studying every documentary and tape of him that I could find - not just visual, but also audiocassettes, even in other languages when he was speaking in other dialects. "
Forest Whitaker
Studying
Myself
Information
" We're supposed to be an example of freedom, and if we are doing things that are injustice to people, then what is our statement? "
Forest Whitaker
Then
Doing
Freedom