“Reading was an escape into an imaginary world where none of those things existed — where I could re-create myself and I could re-create a life where I played a better role. And it”
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Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an American actress and film producer. Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century (2020). Davis received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2025.
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entertainment · American actress and producer (born 1965) · stage actor · film actor · television actor · television producer · actor · also Viola Davis, Davis
Born 11 August 1965 · Q229181
72 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 20 entries
“There is an emotional abandonment that comes with poverty and being Black,”
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“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.”
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“You find people in your life who love you, They give you permission to be able to love yourself. That permission was life-changing for Davis. When you are in the face of compassion and empathy, it’s amazing how it kills shame, Because you’re seen for something way for valuable than your circumstance.”
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“Your ability to adapt to failure and navigate your way out of it, absolutely, one hundred percent, makes you who you are…”
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“I will not be a mystery to my daughter. She will know me and I will share my stories with her—the stories of failure, shame and accomplishment. She will know she's not alone in that wilderness.”
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“What's released me most from the fear of aging is self-awareness. I've never determined my value based on my looks or anything physical. I've been through a lot in life, and what has gotten me through is strength of character and faith.”
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“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.”
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“I own my story. I own my failures. I’m not interested in being perfect. That’s how I deal [with stress]. I don’t put on a mask. I think that the effort to put on the mask is probably more detrimental than just being able to step up and admit your vulnerability in front of people who have enough empathy for you.”
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“They say to serve is to love. I think to serve is to heal, too.”
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“At the end of the day, nobody can tell you how to tackle failure or how to handle change. The world is very good at encouraging you to go along with the status quo and at basking in your successes.”
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“Just like we have to redefine strength, we have to redefine beauty. It’s not even about beautiful, it’s about being who you are. It’s about being honest. It’s about stepping into, 'This is how I am in private, this is how I look, this is how I act, this is my mess, this is my strength, this is my beauty, this is my intelligence,' and then putting it out there that this is who I am.”
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“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.”
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“Forgive yourself — every minute of the day, every day, that would be number one. You always focus on your mistakes as a mom, and you just have to know that you're doing the best you can with what you know.”
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“But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. What we do as Black women are to take the worst situations and create from that point.”
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“Everybody needs a parent. Everyone needs a guide, that proverbial lamp that is going to take you down darkened paths and teach you something about navigating life, even though you know you're going to face some crap in life. Someone to show you how to do what they did.”
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“Corduroy has always held a special place in my life, first as a child paging through it, and then again with my daughter, introducing her to the adventures of that adorable teddy bear”
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Variety: Hayden Panettiere Remembered by Viola Davis, Bethany Joy Lenz, Melissa Barrera and More: ‘I Wish the World Had More Time With You’
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Her company partnership with Julius Tennon, JuVee Productions, signed a first-look deal with Universal Television
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Released album “Peter and the Wolf, op. 67”.
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2025· 4 entries
Won Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award (2025).
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The Guardian: G20 review – Viola Davis kicks ass in silly diplomatic hijack thriller
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The Guardian: G20 review – Viola Davis plays president in so-so action thriller
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Davis starred in G20, an action thriller in which she plays the U
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2024· 1 entry
It was announced she would receive the Golden Globe Cecil B
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2023· 2 entries
Awarded NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for The Woman King (2023).
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The Guardian: Viola Davis becomes Egot winner at the 2023 Grammy awards
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2022· 4 entries
The Guardian: Actor Viola Davis, Marina Hyde on John Cleese, botox, burnout – podcast
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The Guardian: ‘I can change the way Black women are seen’: Viola Davis on stereotypes, success and playing a warrior
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The Guardian: The Woman King review – Viola Davis leads the line in stirring warrior tale
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Davis starred in The Woman King, inspired by true events that took place within The Kingdom of Dahomey
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2021· 4 entries
Awarded Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year (2021).
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Awarded NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2021).
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Davis reprised her role as Amanda Waller in the superhero film The Suicide Squad
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Appeared alongside Sandra Bullock in the drama film The Unforgivable, directed by Nora Fingscheidt
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2020· 2 entries
Davis was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in fine arts from Indiana University
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Davis served as an executive producer and appeared in the documentary film Giving Voice, following students entering the August Wilson monologue competition for a chance to compete on Broadway
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2018· 3 entries
Davis debuted Two-Sides, a documentary series exploring police brutality towards the African-American community
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“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.”
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Davis donated funds to her alma mater, Central Falls High School, for its theater program
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2017· 5 entries
Awarded Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Fences (2017).
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Awarded Time 100 (2017).
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Awarded BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Fences (2017).
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Davis was presented with the 2,597th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by her Doubt co-star and friend Meryl Streep
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Davis announced that she would write the sequel to the classic picture book Corduroy, titled Corduroy Takes a Bow
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2016· 2 entries
Davis starred in the courtroom drama Custody, on which she also served as an executive producer, and played Amanda Waller in the film Suicide Squad, an adaptation of a DC Comics series of the same name
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Davis reprised her role as Rose Maxson for the film adaptation of Fences directed by and starring Denzel Washington
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2015· 2 entries
Awarded Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How to Get Away with Murder (2015).
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Davis appeared in Blackhat, a Michael Mann-directed thriller film starring Chris Hemsworth
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2014· 2 entries
“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.”
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Davis reunited with The Help director Tate Taylor in Get on Up, a biopic of James Brown, playing Brown's mother
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2012· 4 entries
Awarded Crystal Award (2012).
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Davis received the Women in Film's Crystal Award
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Glamour magazine named Davis Glamour's Film Actress of the year
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Time magazine listed Davis as one of the most influential people in the world
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2011· 2 entries
The couple welcomed a daughter, Genesis (b
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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
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2010· 4 entries
Awarded Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (2010).
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Davis won her second Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance
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Davis returned to Broadway in her third August Wilson play, this time a revival of Fences as Rose Maxson, acting alongside Denzel Washington
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Davis had small roles in the romantic comedy thriller Knight and Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and the romantic comedy Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts
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2009· 1 entry
Davis was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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2005· 2 entries
“I was trying to fit in, stifling my voice, stifling who I was, in order to be seen as pretty, in order for people to like me. And then going home, not being able to sleep and having anxiety. I have found that the labelling of me, and having to fit into that box, has cost me a great deal. I’ve had a lot of lost years.”
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And 2006, Davis began a recurring role opposite Tom Selleck in a series of films made for television based on novels by Robert B
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2001· 2 entries
Awarded Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for King Hedley II (2001).
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Returned to the Broadway stage in another play by August Wilson titled King Hedley II, portraying Tonya, a "35-year-old mother fighting eloquently for the right to abort a pregnancy
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1998· 1 entry
Played a small role in Steven Soderbergh's crime comedy film Out of Sight (1999)
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1996· 3 entries
Awarded Theatre World Award (1996).
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For doing one day of work, playing a nurse who passes a vial of blood to future How to Get Away with Murder co-star Timothy Hutton in the film The Substance of Fire (1996)
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Davis made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway production of August Wilson's Seven Guitars as Vera, alongside Keith David
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1992· 1 entry
Davis starred in her first professional stage role, an off Broadway production of William Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It as Denis alongside Elizabeth McGovern at the Delacorte Theatre
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1965· 1 entry
Born 1965-08-11.
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