Amin Film Inspires Whitaker To Trace Ancestry
22 September 2006
Platoon star Forest Whitaker was inspired to trace his family tree after learning he would be making a movie about Idi Amin in Africa.
The actor plays the brutal Ugandan dictator in the film THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND and decided to research his family history before flying to Africa for the first time.
He explains, "I went and got DNA tested for my African ancestry because I wanted to see where I was from.
"I found out I was from Nigeria on my dad's side and Ghana on my mom's side. So then I went back there when I went to Africa.
"I didn't expect that I would go to East Africa first, but in a way I was going back to the source, back to the origin of man."
The actor plays the brutal Ugandan dictator in the film THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND and decided to research his family history before flying to Africa for the first time.
He explains, "I went and got DNA tested for my African ancestry because I wanted to see where I was from.
"I found out I was from Nigeria on my dad's side and Ghana on my mom's side. So then I went back there when I went to Africa.
"I didn't expect that I would go to East Africa first, but in a way I was going back to the source, back to the origin of man."
Contactmusic
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