Deborah Whitaker: Who is Forest Whitaker’s sister?

Who is Forest Whitaker’s sister?

Deborah Whitaker is the sister of Forest Whitaker. Deborah Whitaker’s brother is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making an appearance in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), he went on to earn a reputation for intensive character study work for films, such as Platoon (1986), Good Morning, Vietnam, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He is also well known for his role in Black Panther as Zuri.

Deborah is the older sister of Forest. Deborah Whitaker just like her younger brother is an American film director and producer known for having written and co-directed Climate (2016.) per her IMDB profile. Though she is the sister of a famous Hollywood personality, she has been living a low-key life.

Deborah Whitaker has three brothers

Deborah Whitaker was born in the 1950s to her parents; Forest Steven Jr. her father who was a salesman, and her mother Laura Francis Smith, a special education teacher who put herself through college and earned two master’s degrees while raising her children, Deborah, and her three brothers.

Although her brother, Forest was born on July 15, 1961, in Longview, Texas, United States of America, making him 60 years old as of 2021, much is not known about the date of birth of Deborah. One month before Forest turned 2 — in Longview, Texas. The Whitaker relocated to California when Forest and Kenn were just toddlers.

“My parents moved from Texas to South Central when I was 4, just before the 1965 Watts Riots,” Forest told The Guardian about their childhood. “My parents started doing better, moving upward, and we moved to this little house in Carson, on the Compton border, when I was 11.”

Forest Whitaker is not her only brother, Whitaker is also the sister of American actors, Damon Whitaker, and Kenn Whitaker. It seems acting, directing, and producing run through the family. The Whitaker family traced their ancestry to Nkwerre in Imo State of Nigeria, where the actor was given an honorary titled chief.

On April 6, 2009, Deborah Whitaker’s younger brother was given a chieftaincy title in Imo State, Nigeria. The Black Panther actor, who was named a chief among the Igbo community of Nkwerre, was given the title Nwannedinamba of Nkwerre, which means A Brother in a Foreign Land. Her mother’s ancestry has also been traced to Akan of Ghana.

ALSO, READ; Kenn Whitaker: Truth About Forest Whitaker’s Brother

Deborah Whitaker’s brother, Forest studies yoga and has a black belt in kenpō. He is also a vegetarian but we can’t tell if Deborah is also a vegetarian just like his brother. Her brother also trains in eskrima, originally under Dan Inosanto and currently with Joe Jackson.

Forest’s left eye ptosis has been called “intriguing” by some critics and gives him “a sleepy, contemplative look”. Whitaker has explained that the condition is hereditary and that he has considered having surgery to correct it, not for cosmetic reasons but because it affects his vision.

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Apart from his film career, Deborah Whitaker’s brother, Forest is also known for his humanitarian work and activism. In 2011, he was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, was later promoted to Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, and serves as the CEO of Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), a non-profit outreach program.

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

Through her brother Forest’s marriage, she is an (ex) sister-in-law of American actress, Keisha Nash Whitaker. Keisha and Forest were married from 1996 to 2018.