Forest Whitaker on ‘One of the Best Choices’ He’s Made: Going Vegetarian

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Acclaimed actor, director and producer Forest Whitaker has a list of credits a mile long. Currently starring as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the acclaimed film The Last King of Scotland, Forest made his debut in the classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982, was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in 1988’s Bird and directed the hit films Waiting to Exhale and Hope Floats.

But there is one credit to Forest’s name that many of his fans might not know about: He’s a vegetarian. Forest and his 8-year-old daughter, True, sat down with PETA to record a public service announcement encouraging others to try a healthy and humane vegetarian diet.

“Life is full of choices, and many years ago, I chose to become a vegetarian, and it was one of the best choices I’ve ever made”, says Forest. He addresses many reasons to go vegetarian: improving your heath (a vegetarian diet can help you lose weight and avoid health problems like heart disease, diabetes and several types of cancer); helping the environment and simply not wanting to eat animals anymore.

True shares her own reason for saying no to meat: “I love animals”, she says. We can’t think of a better reason than that!