After making his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Whitaker went on to earn a reputation for intensive character study work for films, such as Platoon (1986), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bird (1988), The Crying Game (1992), Phenomenon (1996), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), The Great Debaters (2007), The Butler (2013), Arrival (2016), and Respect (2021).

Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the historical drama The Last King of Scotland (2006).

He entered California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on a football scholarship,[11] but a back injury made him change his major to music (singing).

[15] That same year, Whitaker also played the part of a comic book salesman in the Amazing Stories episode "Gather Ye Acorns".

[19] He was a member of the cast that won the first ever National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble for Robert Altman's film, Prêt-à-Porter, in 1994.

In 1995, he gave a "characteristically emotional performance"[20] in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's Smoke, and appeared in the science-fiction film Species.

Whitaker continued his directing career with the 1998 romantic comedy, Hope Floats, starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr., which he also executive produced.

Whitaker played a serene, pigeon-raising, bushido-following, mob hit man in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a 1999 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.

[4] In a manner similar to his preparation for Bird, he again immersed himself in his character's world—he studied Eastern philosophy and meditated for long hours "to hone his inner spiritual hitman".

[2] Jarmusch has told interviewers that he developed the title character with Whitaker in mind; The New York Times review of the film observed that "[I]t's hard to think of another actor who could play a cold-blooded killer with such warmth and humanity.

[24] After working in several film roles, he returned to television in 2006 when he joined the cast of FX's police serial The Shield, as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh, who was determined to prove that the lead character, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), is a dirty cop.

As opposed to his previous character work, Whitaker stated that he merely had to draw on his childhood years growing up in South Central Los Angeles for the role.

Whitaker next appeared in what has been called one of the worst films ever made,[26] the 2000 production of Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard.

[30] In 2001, Whitaker had a small, uncredited role in the Wong Kar-wai-directed The Follow, one of five short films produced by BMW that year to promote its cars.

[33] Whitaker's 2006 portrayal of Idi Amin in the film The Last King of Scotland earned him positive reviews by critics as well as multiple awards and honors.

[39] In 2007, Whitaker played Dr. James Farmer Sr. in The Great Debaters, for which he received an Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

[41] Under Frank Cooper, he was the creator and producer of DEWmocracy.com, an interactive video game, short film, and website that allowed people to select a new flavor of Mountain Dew.

[44][45] Whitaker also starred in the film Black Nativity and co-starred in 2013's The Last Stand, playing an FBI agent chasing an escaped drug cartel leader.

[46] That same year he made his Broadway debut in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's play Hughie at the Booth Theatre, directed by Michael Grandage.

For his portrayal of Zuri in the Ryan Coogler directed Marvel Cinematic Universe action adventure film Black Panther (2018), Whitaker shared in winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Since 2019, Whitaker has been starring as Bumpy Johnson in Godfather of Harlem, a series on EPIX which explores the intersection between the criminal underworld and civil rights movement in the 1960s.

[56] He was originally set to appear in Francis Ford Coppola's project Megalopolis but turned down the offer and his role given to Laurence Fishburne.

[4][57] Whitaker's current company, Significant Productions, is devoted to creating opportunities for underrepresented narratives and storytellers by championing films and television shows starring people of color, alongside diversified representation behind the camera.

He also appears in the music video "In the Dark" by Bring Me the Horizon, released on October 21, 2019,[70] Over the past decade, Whitaker has spent much of his time dedicated to humanitarian work.

As Goodwill Ambassador, Whitaker worked with UNESCO to support and develop initiatives that empower youths and keep them from entering or remaining in cycles of violence.

"[72] Following his increased work in conflict-impacted regions, Whitaker was then promoted to a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation,[73] and was a member of President Obama's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

[76] He is also a supporter and public advocate for Hope North, a boarding school and vocational training center in northern Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of the country's civil war.

Whitaker co-founded the International Institute for Peace (IIP) at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, where he is also a senior research scholar.

[80] Launched during the international Newark Peace Education Summit, IIP's mission is to develop programs and strategic partnerships to address issues such as increasing citizen security through community-building; the role of women and spiritual and religious leaders in peacebuilding; the impact of climate change; and the reduction of poverty.

[84] Whitaker's left eye ptosis has been called "intriguing" by the critic Susan Wloszczyna,[85] with the writer Stephanie Zacharek maintaining that it gives him "a sleepy, contemplative look".