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" It is possible for a kid from east Texas, raised in south central LA and Carson, who believes in his dreams, commits himself to them with his heart, to touch them and to have them happen. "
Forest Whitaker
Texas
Kid
Heart
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" 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
" 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
" 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
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Country
College
Loved
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Nation
Great
True
" 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 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
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Start
World
View
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Me
Good
Great
" The characters I've portrayed may outwardly be quite different from one another, but I've found that they're also intrinsically linked. "
Forest Whitaker
Quite
May
Characters
" 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
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Movies
Back
Car
" Until film is just as easily accessible as a pen or pencil, then it's not completely an art form. In painting, you can just pick up a piece of chalk, a stick, or whatever. In sculpture, you can get a rock. Writing, you just need a pencil and paper. Film has been a very elitist medium. It costs so much money. "
Forest Whitaker
Pen
Art
Writing
" As human beings, we all have reasons for our behavior. There may be people who have certain physiological issues that dictate why they make certain choices. On the whole, though, I think we're dictated by our structure, our past, our environment, our culture. So once you understand the patterns that shape a person, how can you not find sympathy? "
Forest Whitaker
Culture
Think
People
" I want to get better as an actor, to keep trying to work harder, trying to discover something different. In some ways, it's a pretty frightening experience. But normally, I do tend to walk against fear and hope that I'll be able to survive. "
Forest Whitaker
Want
Walk
Work
" 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.' "
Forest Whitaker
Challenges
Society
Support
" 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
" 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
" It's all about destiny. That's why people look at the zodiac or the I Ching - because there's a certain order to life, and that order has been lived since the beginning of time. No matter what you do, you're going to live inside of it. "
Forest Whitaker
Look
Destiny
Life
" On the whole, I now see my work as being an expression of my spiritual life and, because I look at it that way, I have a different centre. I go through the stress and pressure, but I think I'm lucky because I come from a different source point. "
Forest Whitaker
Spiritual
Work
Think
" I put down the camera long ago, you know? I was here in London, aged 19, and I was obsessed with my camera, shooting everything I could. Then someone stole it. It helped me to see things for the first time. "
Forest Whitaker
Time
Long
Know
" I had been playing really interesting roles before I got great roles. Little ones - 'The Crying Game' I loved working on, and then 'Bird,' 'Ghost Dog,' so many films. "
Forest Whitaker
Bird
Dog
Game
" 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? "
Forest Whitaker
Power
Know
Influence
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Together
Family
People
" Stereotypes do exist, but we have to walk through them. "
Forest Whitaker
Stereotypes
Walk
Exist
" I'm always surprised when an actor goes so deeply into the truth that they shake you to your core. "
Forest Whitaker
Core
Truth
You
" It's abhorrent to me that somebody is just evil, and you can't explain it. "
Forest Whitaker
Evil
Explain
Just
" I was asked if I would play President Obama in 'My Name is Khan.' I didn't feel comfortable with doing it. Partly because he was still in office, but mainly because I felt that there were other people who were better suited to doing the role. "
Forest Whitaker
Doing
Play
Feel
" 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
" 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. "
Forest Whitaker
Cinema
Arts
Story