Forest Whitaker films and TV shows, ranked by your taste

Actor and director · 51 films and 2 TV shows on Boxlist

Known for Arrival, Godfather of Harlem and Platoon.

See which ones match your taste

Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
2020 · Film
8.4/10 · TMDB
A tribute to Chadwick Boseman, celebrating his life and legacy.
The King of Kings
2025 · Film
8.1/10 · TMDB
Charles Dickens tells his young son Walter the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Godfather of Harlem
2019 · TV
8.0/10 · TMDB
Loosely based on infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy attempts to regain his...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Platoon
1986 · Film
7.7/10 · TMDB
As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Arrival
2016 · Film
7.6/10 · TMDB
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
North and South
1985 · TV
7.6/10 · TMDB
Two friends, one northern and one southern, struggle to maintain their friendship as events build towards the American Civil War.
Big George Foreman
2023 · Film
7.6/10 · TMDB
Fueled by an impoverished childhood, George Foreman channeled his anger into becoming an Olympic Gold medalist and World Heavyweight Champion, followed by a near-death experience that took him from the boxing ring to the pulpit. But when...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
2016 · Film
7.5/10 · TMDB
A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring a new hope to the galaxy.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
The Last King of Scotland
2006 · Film
7.5/10 · TMDB
Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall of President Obote. General Idi Amin comes to...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Black Panther
2018 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Southpaw
2015 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
Billy "The Great" Hope, the reigning junior middleweight boxing champion, has an impressive career, a loving wife and daughter, and a lavish lifestyle. However, when tragedy strikes, Billy hits rock bottom, losing his family, his house and...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Good Morning, Vietnam
1987 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
Radio funny man Adrian Cronauer is sent to Vietnam to bring a little comedy back into the lives of the soldiers. After setting up shop, Cronauer delights the G.I.s but shocks his superior officer, Sergeant Major Dickerson, with his...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The Butler
2013 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
A look at the life of Cecil Gaines who served eight presidents as the White House's head butler from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
1999 · Film
7.3/10 · TMDB
An African-American Mafia hit man who models himself after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob. Jarmusch's spiritual gangster film tells the story of an inner-city hit man (Whitaker) who lives on a rooftop...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
The Great Debaters
2007 · Film
7.2/10 · TMDB
The true story of a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African-American college students into a historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Dope
2015 · Film
7.1/10 · TMDB
Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Bloodsport
1988 · Film
7.0/10 · TMDB
U.S. soldier Frank Dux has come to Hong Kong to be accepted into the Kumite, a highly secret and extremely violent martial arts competition. While trying to gain access into the underground world of clandestine fighters, he also has to...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Mr. Holland's Opus
1995 · Film
7.0/10 · TMDB
In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Respect
2021 · Film
7.0/10 · TMDB
The rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Havoc
2025 · Film
6.9/10 · TMDB
When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.
Where to watch:
The Crying Game
1992 · Film
6.9/10 · TMDB
Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Phone Booth
2002 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
A slick New York publicist who picks up a ringing receiver in a phone booth is told that if he hangs up, he'll be killed... and the little red light from a laser rifle sight is proof that the caller isn't kidding.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1982 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
Based on the real-life adventures chronicled by Cameron Crowe, Fast Times follows a group of high school students growing up in Southern California. Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner are looking for a love interest, and are helped along by...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
The Color of Money
1986 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Sorry to Bother You
2018 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Panic Room
2002 · Film
6.7/10 · TMDB
Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
2020 · Film
6.7/10 · TMDB
An imaginary world comes to life in a holiday tale of an eccentric toymaker, his adventurous granddaughter, and a magical invention that has the power to change their lives forever.
Where to watch:
Zulu
2013 · Film
6.7/10 · TMDB
As a child, Ali Neuman narrowly escaped being murdered by Inkhata, a militant political party at war with Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. Only he and his mother survived the carnage of those years. But as with many survivors...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Out of the Furnace
2013 · Film
6.6/10 · TMDB
Two brothers live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, when a cruel twist of fate lands one in prison. His brother is then lured into one of the most violent crime rings in the Northeast.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Street Kings
2008 · Film
6.6/10 · TMDB
Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Where the Wild Things Are
2009 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
Max imagines running away from his mom and sailing to a far-off land where large talking beasts -- Ira, Carol, Douglas, the Bull, Judith and Alexander -- crown him as their king, play rumpus, build forts and discover secret hideaways.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Stakeout
1987 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
Two cops are given the 'dirty' job of staking out the home of an escaped convict's ex-girlfriend. Chris and the beautiful girlfriend accidentally meet and fall in love. Just as Chris confesses, the convict appears, but will she betray him ?
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Dragon Hunters
2008 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
Dragon Hunters is a fantastic tale telling the adventures of two dragon hunters: the world has become a vast conglomerate of islands of varying size and shape. This babbling universe is mainly peopled with ruthless rogues, surly peasants...
Vantage Point
2008 · Film
6.4/10 · TMDB
The attempted assassination of the American president is told and re-told from several different perspectives.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The Air I Breathe
2007 · Film
6.4/10 · TMDB
A drama based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. A businessman bets his life on a horse race; a gangster sees the future; a pop star falls prey to a...
Where to watch:+1+ rent/buy
Repo Men
2010 · Film
6.3/10 · TMDB
In the future, medical technology has advanced to the point where people can buy artificial organs to extend their lives. But if they default on payments, an organization known as the Union sends agents to repossess the organs. Remy is one...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Phenomenon
1996 · Film
6.3/10 · TMDB
An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Johnny Handsome
1989 · Film
6.3/10 · TMDB
A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his mentor and sent him...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Taken 3
2014 · Film
6.2/10 · TMDB
Ex-government operative Bryan Mills finds his life is shattered when he's falsely accused of a murder that hits close to home. As he's pursued by a savvy police inspector, Mills employs his particular set of skills to track the real killer...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
First Daughter
2004 · Film
6.2/10 · TMDB
Samantha MacKenzie, the daughter of the president of the United States, arrives at college with a group of Secret Service agents. Samantha, however, resents their presence and decides she wants to attend school just like a normal student...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Blown Away
1994 · Film
6.1/10 · TMDB
Blown Away tells the story of Jimmy Dove who works for the Boston bomb squad. Shortly after Dove leaves the force his partner is killed by a bomb that Dove thinks might have been made by someone he knows.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Body Snatchers
1993 · Film
6.1/10 · TMDB
When Environmental Protection Agency inspector Steve Malone travels to a remote military base in order to check for toxic materials, he brings his family along for the ride. After arriving at the base, his teenage daughter Marti befriends...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The Last Stand
2013 · Film
6.0/10 · TMDB
Ray Owens is sheriff of the quiet US border town of Sommerton Junction after leaving the LAPD following a bungled operation. Following his escape from the FBI, a notorious drug baron, his gang, and a hostage are heading toward Sommerton...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Powder Blue
2009 · Film
6.0/10 · TMDB
On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and redemption are about to collide.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Species
1995 · Film
5.9/10 · TMDB
In 1993, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Project receives a transmission detailing an alien DNA structure, along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. The result is Sil, a sensual but deadly creature who can...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Burden
2020 · Film
5.9/10 · TMDB
Ku Klux Klansman Mike Burden opens the Redneck Shop and KKK museum in historic Laurens, SC. He subsequently falls in love with a single mother and, under her influence, quits the Klan and is taken in by an African American Reverend.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Pawn
2013 · Film
5.6/10 · TMDB
A petty robbery spirals into a tense hostage situation after three gunmen hold up a diner that's a front for the mob.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
How It Ends
2018 · Film
5.3/10 · TMDB
A desperate father tries to return home to his pregnant wife after a mysterious apocalyptic event turns everything to chaos.
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Catch.44
2011 · Film
5.1/10 · TMDB
The lives of three female assassins take a sudden turn when their charming boss lures them into one last job. They soon find themselves thrust into a bizarre situation involving a psychotic hit man, a grizzled trucker and a delusional line...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Freelancers
2012 · Film
5.1/10 · TMDB
The son of a slain NYPD officer joins the force, where he falls in with his father's former partner and a team of rogue cops. His new boss, Sarcone, will see if he has what it takes to be rogue through many trials and tribulations of...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Battlefield Earth
2000 · Film
3.2/10 · TMDB
In the year 3000, man is no match for the Psychlos, a greedy, manipulative race of aliens on a quest for ultimate profit. Led by the powerful Terl, the Psychlos are stripping Earth clean of its natural resources, using the broken remnants...
Where to watch:Rent or buy