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Whitaker Picks Up 'Shield'

(Posted September 28, 2005 by Leah Yoakum)

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) When "The Shield" returns to FX early next year, it will do so with a fresh thorn in the side of Vic Mackey.

Actor-director Forest Whitaker ("The Crying Game," "Panic Room") has joined the cast for the show's fifth season. He'll play a hard-charging Internal Affairs detective who goes after Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and the strike team for their various misdeeds.

"He's going to be a great foil for the guys on our show," "Shield" creator Shawn Ryan tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Forest has always impressed me with his range. He's got an incredible sweetness and soulfulness but also strength. It's a rare combination for an actor, and that appealed to me with this character."

Whitaker joins the series in the wake of Glenn Close's departure. Close earned an Emmy nomination for her performance last season as Capt. Monica Rawling, the new -- and, as it turned out, temporary -- head of the Farmington precinct. (Close, who lives on the East Coast, had signed for only one season of the L.A.-based show.)

"The Shield" will be Whitaker's first regular TV work since he served as the host of UPN's "Twilight Zone" revival in 2002-03. He has several film projects in the works, including "American Gun," which premiered earlier this month at the Toronto Film Festival, and "The Last King of Scotland," in which he plays Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

His other credits include "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai," "Bird," "Smoke" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." He directed "Waiting to Exhale" and "Hope Floats," among other films.

Source: Zap2it

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