Whitaker receives star on Walk of Fame

Actor says honor represents ‘where I came from, and where I am going’

HECTOR MATA / AFP/Getty Images

Forest Whitaker and his wife Keisha pose near his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 16.

updated 7:51 p.m. ET April 16, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Forest Whitaker snagged Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild trophies this year for his role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.” On Monday he cemented his winning streak with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“I remember as a kid coming to the Walk of Fame. It was like a field trip and very exciting to us,” said the 45-year-old actor-director at the ceremony for the Walk’s 2,335th star.

The honor represents “where I came from, and where I am going and hopefully where I am at right now,” he said.

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Guests included Kiefer Sutherland, Angela Bassett and Whitaker’s wife, Keisha, and three daughters, Autumn, Sonnet and True.

The ceremony came the same week as the DVD release of “The Last King of Scotland,” in which Whitaker portrays the despot under whose reign thousands of people were killed in the 1970s.

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Whitaker began his foray into films playing an athlete in 1982’s big teen hit, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” after a back injury ended his budding college-football career.

He went on to star in such films as Clint Eastwood’s Charlie Parker biopic “Bird,” “The Crying Game” and as a hulking assassin in “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.”

His directing credits include “Waiting to Exhale” and “Hope Floats.”

Upcoming films for the actor include “Vantage Point” with Dennis Quaid and “The Air I Breathe.”