An impressive supporting player who manages to be versatile despite his imposing looks, Whitaker attended college on a football scholarship, which helped him land his first recognizable role as an angry linebacker in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Myriad supporting parts followed, often in A-list movies (dramas Platoon and The Color of Money, and the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam), but as an in-demand character actor he was forced to sign on to low-rent fare, too (Bloodsport). In 1988, director Clint Eastwood gave Whitaker one of his first leading roles: The actor earned a much-deserved Golden Globe nod playing troubled jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker in the biopic Bird. During the '90s Whitaker branched out into directing (Waiting to Exhale) and producing while he kept up his jam-packed acting schedule. In 2006, he had a banner year playing two charismatic villains: an underhanded Internal Affairs agent on the series The Shield (for which he should have been nominated for an Emmy) and his incredible Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning turn as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland on the big screen.