JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (April 20, 2007) — Forest Whitaker met Nelson Mandela on Friday and received a rapturous welcome from university students at the start of his visit to the country.
Accompanied by his wife Keisha and three daughters, the Academy Award-winning star of “The Last King of Scotland” arrived on Thursday as a guest of South African tourism promotion officials.
It’s Whitaker’s first visit to South Africa.
?South Africa as a country is a place that we as a family have been looking forward to visiting for quite some time,” Whitaker said on arrival at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport
Thursday, where he was greeted by Zulu dancers and drummers.
On Friday, Whitaker met Mandela in a private visit at the former South African president’s offices after telling students at the University of Johannesburg about his journey from a small Texas town to his Oscar win for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
“My parents always encouraged me to pursue my passions and my dreams. And I was driven,” he said.
Whitaker addressed concerns raised by students about actors not from Africa playing characters from the continent and said that it largely had to do with ensuring a film’s commercial success.
“I was not the director’s first choice for the Idi Amin role,” he said. “And I know that African actors did audition for the role but I ended up being their final choice.”
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