[8] Whittle made his acting debut in 2002 the television series Dream Team which aired on Sky 1.

[12] In an interview with Digital Spy he explained his reasons for leaving Hollyoaks and revealed his plans to try his hand at American television and film.

Not long after, Whittle was cast in the feature film Austenland opposite Keri Russell, Jane Seymour and Jennifer Coolidge.

Whittle joked that he only booked the role because of his body as the audition tape he submitted cut off his head.

He found it ironic that it filmed on location in the UK when he travelled to Los Angeles to pursue American TV projects.

[15] In March 2012, it was announced that Whittle was cast in the recurring role of Charles, a love interest of Denise Vasi's character, in the second season of the VH1 comedic-drama Single Ladies.

However, Whittle made such an impression on producer Stacy A. Littlejohn that she wrote him into the rest of the season.

[10] On 25 July 2014, at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Whittle had been promoted to series regular for season 2.

[19] Around the same time, Whittle booked the recurring role of Daniel on ABC's prime-time drama Mistresses.

Whittle controversially accused the show's creator Jason Rothenberg of bullying him into leaving the series by marginalizing his character.

[23] In January 2016, it was announced that Whittle had been cast as Shadow Moon, the lead role in Starz television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods opposite Ian McShane.

[24] Though Whittle had no prior knowledge of the novel, he was a fan favourite pick to play Shadow when Starz announced the series in August 2015.

[5][27][28] In September 2017 Whittle was cast opposite Sanaa Lathan in the Netflix original film, Nappily Ever After based on the novel of same name by Trisha R.