Viola Davis graduation from Juilliard. (L-R) Dan Davis (Viola's father), Viola Davis, Mary Alice Davis (Viola's mother), and Mozell Logan (Viola's maternal grandmother).
Gallery of Viola Davis
Viola Davis graduation from Juilliard.
Career
Gallery of Viola Davis
2008
United States
Celebrities attend the world premiere of "Nights In Rodanthe" .
(September 23, 2008 - Source: Bauer Griffin)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2009
The Century Plaza, 2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067, USA
(L-R) Actor Edward James Olmos, actress Amy Adams, and actress Viola Davis attend the 61st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on January 31, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2010
Viola Davis and Denzel Washington in a 2010 revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences (first produced 1985).
Sara Krulwich—The New York Times/Redux
Gallery of Viola Davis
2010
NY 10036, USA
Actors Viola Davis and Denzel Washington pose with their awards at the 64th Annual Tony Awards at The Sports Club/LA on June 13, 2010 in New York City.
(June 12, 2010 - Source: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2010
138 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036, USA
(L-R) Actors Chris Chalk, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson (backrow), Stephen McKinley Henderson (backrow) SaCha Stewart-Coleman, Denzel Washington and Russell Hornsby onstage during the curtain call for the Broadway Opening of "Fences" at the Cort Theatre on April 26, 2010 in New York City.
(April 25, 2010 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2011
Viola Davis (right) and Octavia Spencer in a scene from The Help (2011).
Gallery of Viola Davis
2011
Paseo de la Castellana, 57, 28046 Madrid, Spain
(L to R) Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer and director Tate Taylor attend "Criadas y Senoras" (The Help) photocall at Hesperia Hotel on October 3, 2011 in Madrid, Spain.
(Source: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images Europe)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2012
333 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011, USA
David Denby and actress Viola Davis attend The New Yorker Festival 2012 - In Conversation - Viola Davis & David Denby at SVA Theatre on October 6, 2012 in New York City.
(Source: Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2012
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, USA
(L-R) Actress Viola Davis, Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and professional tennis player Maria Sharapova attend the Vera Wang Fall 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion at The Stage at Lincoln Center on February 14, 2012 in New York City.
(Source: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2012
6215 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
(L-R) Actors Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Julius Tennon, Viola Davis and director Tate Taylor attend the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards held at The Hollywood Palladium on January 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Christopher Polk/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2013
15301 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403, USA
Actress Viola Davis attends The L.A. Times' Envelope screening of "How To Get Away With Murder" at ArcLight Sherman Oaks on May 26, 2015 in Sherman Oaks, California.
(May 25, 2013 - Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2014
1400 Parkview Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, USA
Actresses Jane Fonda and Viola Davis (R) speak during Variety Studio Actors on Actors presented by Autograph Collection Hotels on March 29, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
(March 27, 2014 - Source: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2014
60 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, USA
Actress Viola Davis receives an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the Juilliard School 109th commencement ceremony at Alice Tully Hall on May 23, 2014 in New York City.
(May 22, 2014 - Source: Mike Coppola/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2014
1250 16th St, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA
Actress Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation's groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a New Stuart House for sexually abused children on May 2, 2014 in Santa Monica, California.
(May 1, 2014 - Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2014
1250 16th St, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA
Actress Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation's groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a New Stuart House for sexually abused children on May 2, 2014 in Santa Monica, California.
(May 1, 2014 - Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2015
1250 16th St, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA
Actress Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation's Dedication Ceremony for the new Stuart House on November 17, 2015 in Santa Monica, California.
(Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2015
777 Chick Hearn Ct, Los Angeles, CA 90015, USA
Actor Peter Dinklage (C) accepts Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award for 'Game of Thrones' from actress Viola Davis (R) onstage during the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 20, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2016
Viola Davis in Fences (2016), directed by Denzel Washington.
Gallery of Viola Davis
2016
2124 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, USA
(L-R) Actors Viola Davis, Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto and Joel Kinnaman attend the Suicide Squad premiere sponsored by Carrera at Beacon Theatre on August 1, 2016 in New York City.
(July 31, 2016 - Source: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2016
665 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
Actress Viola Davis accepts the Female Actor in a Drama Series award for 'How to Get Away with Murder' onstage during The 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 30, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2016
1400 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90015, USA
Actress Viola Davis helps out as an advocate for the Vaseline Healing Project with Direct Relief at Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center on January 7, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2017
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Actor Viola Davis accepts the Best Supporting Actress award for 'Fences' onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California.
(Source: Christopher Polk/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2017
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
(L-R): Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali, Best Actress Emma Stone, Best Supporting Actress Viola Davis, and Best Actor Casey Affleck pose in the press room during the 89th Annual Academy Awards on February 26, 2017, in Hollywood, California.
(Source: AFP)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2017
7013 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Actors Meryl Streep and Viola Davis attend the Viola Davis Walk Of Fame Ceremony at Hollywood Walk Of Fame on January 5, 2017 in Hollywood, California.
(Source: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2017
6840 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EST and features a diverse lineup of guests that includes celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human-interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Monday, September 25 included Viola Davis ("How to Get Away with Murder"), Freddie Highmore ("The Good Doctor") and musical guest Grizzly Bear.
(Source: Disney ABC Television Group)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2018
45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111, USA
Actress Viola Davis (L) is interviewed by host Jimmy Fallon as she visits "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center on November 13, 2018 in New York City.
(Source: Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2018
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Actor Sam Rockwell (L), winner of the Best Supporting Actor award for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' and actor Viola Davis pose in the press room during the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California.
(March 3, 2018 - Source: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2018
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Julius Tennon (L) and Viola Davis attend the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California.
(March 3, 2018 - Source: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2018
Los Angeles, California, USA
Viola Davis attends Women's March Los Angeles 2018 on January 20, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Presley Ann/Getty Images North America)
Gallery of Viola Davis
2018
9876 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, USA
Actor Viola Davis and Julius Tennon attend The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.
(Source: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America)
Viola Davis graduation from Juilliard. (L-R) Dan Davis (Viola's father), Viola Davis, Mary Alice Davis (Viola's mother), and Mozell Logan (Viola's maternal grandmother).
(L-R) Actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, Amy Adams and writer/director John Patrick Shanley attend a party following the premiere of "Doubt" at The Metropolitan Club on December 7, 2008 in New York City.
(Source: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images North America)
The Century Plaza, 2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067, USA
(L-R) Actor Edward James Olmos, actress Amy Adams, and actress Viola Davis attend the 61st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on January 31, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America)
Viola Davis and Denzel Washington in a 2010 revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences (first produced 1985).
Sara Krulwich—The New York Times/Redux
Actors Viola Davis and Denzel Washington pose with their awards at the 64th Annual Tony Awards at The Sports Club/LA on June 13, 2010 in New York City.
(June 12, 2010 - Source: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Actors Chris Chalk, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson (backrow), Stephen McKinley Henderson (backrow) SaCha Stewart-Coleman, Denzel Washington and Russell Hornsby onstage during the curtain call for the Broadway Opening of "Fences" at the Cort Theatre on April 26, 2010 in New York City.
(April 25, 2010 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
(L to R) Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer and director Tate Taylor attend "Criadas y Senoras" (The Help) photocall at Hesperia Hotel on October 3, 2011 in Madrid, Spain.
(Source: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images Europe)
David Denby and actress Viola Davis attend The New Yorker Festival 2012 - In Conversation - Viola Davis & David Denby at SVA Theatre on October 6, 2012 in New York City.
(Source: Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Actress Viola Davis, Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and professional tennis player Maria Sharapova attend the Vera Wang Fall 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion at The Stage at Lincoln Center on February 14, 2012 in New York City.
(Source: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Actors Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Julius Tennon, Viola Davis and director Tate Taylor attend the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards held at The Hollywood Palladium on January 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Christopher Polk/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis attends The L.A. Times' Envelope screening of "How To Get Away With Murder" at ArcLight Sherman Oaks on May 26, 2015 in Sherman Oaks, California.
(May 25, 2013 - Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America)
Actresses Jane Fonda and Viola Davis (R) speak during Variety Studio Actors on Actors presented by Autograph Collection Hotels on March 29, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
(March 27, 2014 - Source: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis receives an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the Juilliard School 109th commencement ceremony at Alice Tully Hall on May 23, 2014 in New York City.
(May 22, 2014 - Source: Mike Coppola/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation's groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a New Stuart House for sexually abused children on May 2, 2014 in Santa Monica, California.
(May 1, 2014 - Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation's groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a New Stuart House for sexually abused children on May 2, 2014 in Santa Monica, California.
(May 1, 2014 - Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation's Dedication Ceremony for the new Stuart House on November 17, 2015 in Santa Monica, California.
(Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)
Actor Peter Dinklage (C) accepts Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award for 'Game of Thrones' from actress Viola Davis (R) onstage during the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 20, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America)
(L-R) Actors Viola Davis, Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto and Joel Kinnaman attend the Suicide Squad premiere sponsored by Carrera at Beacon Theatre on August 1, 2016 in New York City.
(July 31, 2016 - Source: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis accepts the Female Actor in a Drama Series award for 'How to Get Away with Murder' onstage during The 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 30, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images North America)
Actress Viola Davis helps out as an advocate for the Vaseline Healing Project with Direct Relief at Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center on January 7, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
(Source: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images North America)
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Actor Viola Davis accepts the Best Supporting Actress award for 'Fences' onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California.
(Source: Christopher Polk/Getty Images North America)
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
(L-R): Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali, Best Actress Emma Stone, Best Supporting Actress Viola Davis, and Best Actor Casey Affleck pose in the press room during the 89th Annual Academy Awards on February 26, 2017, in Hollywood, California.
(Source: AFP)
Actors Meryl Streep and Viola Davis attend the Viola Davis Walk Of Fame Ceremony at Hollywood Walk Of Fame on January 5, 2017 in Hollywood, California.
(Source: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images North America)
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EST and features a diverse lineup of guests that includes celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human-interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Monday, September 25 included Viola Davis ("How to Get Away with Murder"), Freddie Highmore ("The Good Doctor") and musical guest Grizzly Bear.
(Source: Disney ABC Television Group)
Actress Viola Davis (L) is interviewed by host Jimmy Fallon as she visits "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center on November 13, 2018 in New York City.
(Source: Getty Images North America)
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Actor Sam Rockwell (L), winner of the Best Supporting Actor award for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' and actor Viola Davis pose in the press room during the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California.
(March 3, 2018 - Source: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America)
6801 Hollywood Blvd #170, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Julius Tennon (L) and Viola Davis attend the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California.
(March 3, 2018 - Source: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America)
Actor Viola Davis and Julius Tennon attend The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.
(Source: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America)
Viola Davis is an American actress known for her precise, controlled performances and her regal presence. She is known for her award-winning performances in the television series 'How to Get Away With Murder,' the Broadway productions of 'King Hedley II' and 'Fences' and its film adaptation.
Background
Davis was born on August 11, 1965, in St. Matthews, South Carolina, the daughter of Mary Alice (née Logan) and Dan Davis. She was born on her grandmother's farm in the Singleton Plantation. Her father was a horse trainer, and her mother was a maid, factory worker and homemaker. Two months after she was born, her family moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island, with Davis and two of her sisters, leaving her older sister and brother with her grandparents.
Her mother was also an activist during the civil rights movement. At the age of two, Davis was taken to jail with her mother after she was arrested during a civil rights protest. She has described herself as having "lived in abject poverty and dysfunction" during her childhood, recalling living in "rat-infested and condemned" apartments. Davis is a second cousin of actor Mike Colter, known for portraying the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage.
Education
Davis attended Central Falls High School, the alma mater to which she partially credits her love of stage acting with her involvement in the arts. As a teen, she was involved in the federal TRIO Upward Bound and TRIO Student Support Services programs. While enrolled at the Young People's School for the Performing Arts in West Warwick, Rhode Island, Davis's talent was recognized by a director at the program, Bernard Masterson.
Following graduation from high school, Davis studied at Rhode Island College, majoring in theater and graduating in 1988. Next, she attended the Juilliard School for four years, and was a member of the school's Drama Division "Group 22" (1989–93). She graduated in 1994.
In 1996 Davis made her Broadway debut in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, in which she played the long-suffering paramour of a musician recently released from prison, a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination. She made her film debut the same year with a bit part in the drama The Substance of Fire. Davis then landed a small role in director Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight (1998); he later chose her for bit parts in Traffic (2000) and Solaris (2002). In 1999 Davis played opposite Phylicia Rashad in the Off-Broadway drama Everybody’s Ruby, based on writer Zora Neale Hurston’s investigation of a murder. She made a number of television guest appearances before snagging a recurring role as a nurse in producer Steven Bochco’s medical drama City of Angels (2000). Davis returned to Broadway the next year in another Wilson play, King Hedley II. She won a Tony for her portrayal of a married woman arguing for her right to an abortion. She later played a maid who works for a well-intentioned but cloistered housewife played by Julianne Moore in the Todd Haynes film Far from Heaven (2002) and the mother of the title character in Antwone Fisher (2002), a cinematic adaptation of a troubled African American man’s memoir.
In the Off-Broadway play Intimate Apparel (2004), Davis starred as an early 20th-century lingerie designer managing a long-distance love affair. In the film Doubt (2008), Davis played the mother of a young man who may have been molested by a Roman Catholic priest; her brief performance earned her Academy and Golden Globe award nominations for best supporting actress. She demonstrated her comedic skills with an appearance in an installment of Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise, Madea Goes to Jail (2009), and a guest role in 2010 on the Toni Collette TV series The United States of Tara. In 2010 she also assumed the female lead in a Broadway revival of Wilson’s Fences opposite Denzel Washington (who had directed her in Antwone Fisher); she won another Tony for her portrayal of the beleaguered Rose.
Davis’s performance as a reserved maid at the dawn of the American civil rights era in the film The Help (2011) earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nods for best actress. She then appeared as a kindly stranger who tries to assist a young boy who has lost his father in the 9/11 attacks in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), a screen adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel. Davis’s later credits include Won’t Back Down (2012), which examined conflicts in American public education; Prisoners (2013), a crime drama about missing children; and Ender’s Game (2013), a science-fiction adventure movie.
In 2014 Davis played the mother of soul singer James Brown in the biopic Get On Up and took a supporting role as a college professor in the romantic drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. She then starred as a law professor in the television drama series How to Get Away with Murder (2014– ), and in 2015 she won an Emmy Award for her performance on that show. Davis assumed a supporting role in Michael Mann’s cybercrime thriller Blackhat (2015). She next headed up a team of supervillains as steely government official Amanda Waller in the comic book adaptation Suicide Squad (2016). Davis reteamed with Washington for the 2016 film adaptation of Fences, which he also directed. For her work in the drama, Davis won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award, becoming the first black woman to win an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony for acting. She then garnered acclaim for her performance in Widows (2018), a heist thriller that transcended the genre to offer a complex narrative about race, class, and gender.
Davis is a Christian and regularly attends services at Oasis Church in Los Angeles.
Politics
Viola Davis delivered some potent political words. She was asked about progress in America, a question clearly alluding to President-Elect Donald Trump.
“I will, believe it or not, remove Trump from the equation. Because I feel that it's bigger than him,” Davis said. “I believe that it is our responsibility to uphold what it is to be an American. And what America is about, and the true meaning of what it means to pursue the American dream. I think that America in and of itself has been an affirmation, but I think that we've fallen short a lot, because there is no way that we can have anyone in office that is not an extension of our own belief system. So then what does that say about us? And I think that, if you answer that question, I think that that says it all.”
Views
Davis is a passionate advocate for better opportunities for black women. She is a spokesperson for the Vaseline Healing Project. In 2011, Davis donated funds to her hometown public library in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to assist in preventing its closure due to a lack of city funding. In 2018, Davis donated funds to her alma mater, Central Falls High School, for its theater program.
As part of her partnership with Vaseline to promote the Vaseline Healing Project, Davis attended the groundbreaking of a free community health center in Central Falls, Rhode Island in October 2016 that was sponsored by the project. The project provides dermatological care to help heal the skin of those affected by poverty around the world.
Since 2014, Davis has collaborated with the Hunger Is campaign to help eradicate childhood hunger across America. Speaking on her work, Davis said that "seventeen million kids in this country, so one in five kids in this country, go to bed hungry. I was one of those kids, because I grew up in abject poverty; I did everything that you could possibly imagine to get food: I rummaged in the garbage cans, I stole from the local store constantly."
As an honoree at the 2014 Variety Power of Women luncheon, Davis further commented that "the thing that made me join...was the word 'eradicate', 'get rid of' - not by thirty-percent not by twenty-percent not by fifty-percent, but to do away (with it). Because everyone should be a child, and should grow up and have a chance at the American dream". In September, 2017, Davis kick-started the $30K in 30 Days Project with Hunger Is, awarding a $1,000 grant to the Rhode Island Community food bank in her home state.
Quotations:
"I believe that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are, truly being who you are. And I've spent far too long apologizing for that - my age, my color, my lack of classical beauty - that now at the age of, well, at the age of 46, I'm very proud to be Viola Davis, for whatever it's worth."
"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity."
"You can't be hesitant about who you are."
"I mean, I'm a 46-year-old Black actress who doesn't look like Halle Berry…and Halle Berry is having a hard time."
"The one thing I feel is lacking in Hollywood today is an understanding of the beauty, the power, the sexuality, the uniqueness, the humor of being a regular Black woman."
"They say to serve is to love. I think to serve is to heal, too."
"The internal sexism within womanhood is very predominant in Hollywood, because we all want to be successful. There's a plug to it: You all have to be skinny! You all have to be pretty! You all have to be likable, because that's the formula that works. On an executive level. On a power level. And it's not always the same working with black people, because of the internalized racism. The colorism."
"I see a lot of sexy women who are hard, cold, look like they have windswept hair and lip gloss and light makeup when they say it's no makeup. I work out five days a week, and I'm still not a size 2. So I wanted to see a real woman on TV. I wanted to see who we are before we walk out the door in the morning and put on the mask of acceptability."
"Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that's inside of you."
"You can't shine if you have two lines in the background as a bus driver. You can only shine if you're included in the narrative, and narratives start when you put pen to paper and you use your imagination. You just tell a story. That's all you do. You tell a story. You don't put any boundaries on it. It's infinite and that's the only way we can do what we do is that people use their imaginations so that we can be included in it."
"Vanity destroys your work. That's the one thing you have to let go of as an actor. I don't care how sexy or beautiful any woman is. At the end of the day, she has to take her makeup off. At the end of the day, she's more than just pretty."
"As Black women, we're always given these seemingly devastating experiences - experiences that could absolutely break us. But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. What we do as Black women is take the worst situations and create from that point."
"I don't have any time to stay up all night worrying about what someone who doesn't love me has to say about me."
"The black artist cannot live in a revisionist place. The black artist can only tell the truth about humanity. Humanity is messy. People are messy. Caucasian actors know that. They understand that. They understand that when you bring a human being to life you show all the flaws as well as the beauty. We, as African American artists, are more concerned with image and message and not execution. Which is why every time you see our images they've been watered down to a point where they are not realistic at all. It's like all of our humanity has been washed out. We as artists cannot be politicians. We as artists can only be truth tellers."
"Even when I get the fried chicken special of the day, I have to dig into it like it's filet mignon."
"I would tell my younger self just be yourself - that who you are is good enough."
"When I was handed Annalise Keating I said, she's sexy, she's mysterious, you know, I'm used to playing women who gotta gain 40 pounds and wear an apron so I said oh god, I gotta lose weight. I gotta learn to walk like Kerry Washington in heels. You know? I gotta lose my belly. And then I ask myself, well, why do I have to do all of that? I truly believe that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. And, I just recently embraced that at 51."
Personality
Viola is friends with Octavia Spencer, Meryl Streep, and Denzel Washington.
Physical Characteristics:
Height - 167.7 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight - 59 kg (130 lb)
Bra size - 34C
Chest size - 94 cm (37 in)
Waist size - 71 cm (28 in)
Hips size - 91 cm (35 in)
Shoe size - 9 US
Dress size - 8
Eyes color - Brown
Hair color - Brown
Interests
Music & Bands
Stevie Wonder
Connections
Davis married actor Julius Tennon in June 2003. In 2011, Davis and her husband adopted an infant daughter. Davis is stepmother to Tennon's son and daughter from previous relationships.
2017 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Fences (2016)
2016 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series - How to Get Away with Murder (2014)
2012 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - The Help (2011)
2012 - Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - The Help (2011)
2017 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Fences (2016)
2016 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series - How to Get Away with Murder (2014)
2012 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - The Help (2011)
2012 - Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - The Help (2011)
2012 - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture - The Help
2013 - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture - Won't Back Down
2015 - Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series - How to Get Away with Murder
2017 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture - Fences
2012 - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture - The Help
2013 - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture - Won't Back Down
2015 - Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series - How to Get Away with Murder
2017 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture - Fences