Biography
Whitaker was born as John Orson Whitaker, Jr. in Van Nuys, California, the fifth of eight children to Thelma and John O. Whitaker, Sr. and started his professional acting career at the age of three by appearing in a television commercial for a local used car dealer. In 1965, he originated the character of the young Scotty Baldwin in the soap opera General Hospital. In 1966 he acted in a major feature film, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming which also starred Brian Keith, the actor who would later play Whitaker's uncle in the television series, Family Affair.
The show Family Affair aired from 1966–1971. It co-starred Whitaker playing the role of a 6-year-old orphaned boy named Jody Davis, living in a high-rise apartment in New York with his sisters Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Cissy (Kathy Garver), his uncle Bill Davis (Brian Keith), and Bill's butler, Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot). Off the set, Whitaker was a close friend of Brian Keith, who became a second uncle to him. While a regular on the show, he also starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production The Littlest Angel and an episode of the long running western The Virginian in 1969.
After Family Affair, Whitaker went on to star in the 1973 Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning children's series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters alongside Billy Barty and Scott Kolden, as well as appearing in feature films, including Disney's Snowball Express, The Biscuit Eater, Napoleon and Samantha and The Magic Pony. His most prominent feature film role during this period was the lead in the 1973 musical version of Tom Sawyer.
Whitaker graduated from Sylmar High School, and then spent two years in Portugal doing missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upon returning to the United States he attended Brigham Young University, graduating in 1986 with a degree in Communications. He worked as a computer consultant briefly at CBS as he mentioned in an interview with Tom Snyder on the The Late Late Show, and later joined a Los Angeles talent agency, Whitaker Entertainment, owned by his sister. Whitaker was Dana Plato's former manager and a friend of the family. He is also a certified drug counselor.
In 1999, Whitaker was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award recognizing his outstanding achievements within the entertainment industry as a child star.
Read more about this topic: Johnny Whitaker
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