(TibetanReview.net, Dec05’24) –Hollywood actor, producer, and director Forest Steven Whitaker whose accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, has on Dec 4 met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at his exile residence in Dharamshala, India. He has also called on the exile Tibetans’ democratically elected political leader, the Sikyong, just ahead of the latter’s trip to the USA.
“It is a great opportunity to get a chance to see him again,” the Tibetan service of rfa.org Dec 4 quoted Whitaker, 63, as saying, after meeting with the Dalai Lama.
“I’ve been given a lot of blessings by the Tibetan people and, of course, by His Holiness today,” the report quoted Whitaker as saying, accompanied by his daughter Sonnet Noel Whitaker, 28.
“I have met him before but I was overcome with feelings when I saw him today. I just wished him better health and a long life and love. I think he is a symbol of peace.”
Whitaker had previously met with the Dalai Lama in Jul 2017 during an event hosted by Starkey Hearing Technologies in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. At that time, Whitaker moderated a panel discussion on “A Call for Compassion and Conscious Kindness,” in which the Dalai Lama was a participant, along with Starkey owner Bill Austin and Starkey’s chief philanthropy officer, Tani Austin, the report noted.
While in Dharamshala, Whitaker has also met with Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the executive head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), on Dec 3. He also visited the Tibet Museum and Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, located within the CTA complex, Dec 4.
Whitaker has spent much of his time over the past decade dedicated to humanitarian work. In 2011, he was appointed the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation. UNESCO also appointed him, in 2014, its Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation.
In 2012, he founded the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI), which implements peace-building programmes in conflict affected communities throughout the world, with focus on training youths in conflict resolution and developing businesses in areas of conflict. WPDI’s programmes are currently operating throughout Africa, Mexico, and the United States.
He has won numerous doctorate and other awards as well in diverse other fields of his works.