Award-winning actor Forest Steven Whitaker was born on July 15, 1961 in Longview, Texas. He used to be a football player at the California State Polytechnic University but had to quit due to a back injury. He pursued acting instead, and landed his first film role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He was nominated for an Oscar for the film The Last King of Scotland. His most recent films include Vantage Point and Street Kings. Jon Kavanaugh is played by Forest Whitaker on FX Network's police drama series The Shield. Jon is an officer at the Internal Affairs department whose primary objective is to destroy the Strike Team. He puts his criminology and psychology degrees to good use when it comes to investigating people.