Viola Davis

Acting

Born: 1965-08-11
From: St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA
Gender: Female
Popularity: 2.2

Biography

Viola Davis (/vaɪˈoʊlə/ vy-OH-lə; born August 11, 1965) 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. A graduate of Juilliard, Davis began her career in Central Falls, Rhode Island, appearing in small stage productions. She made her Broadway debut in the August Wilson play Seven Guitars (1996) for which she earned her first Tony nomination. She would later win two Tony Awards, both for Wilson plays. Her first win was for Best Featured Actress in a Play playing the titular character Tonya, a woman grappling with trauma and loss in King Hedley II (2001), followed by her second win for Best Actress in a Play playing Rose Maxson, a working class mother in Fences (2010). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for reprising her role in the 2016 film adaptation of Fences. She was Oscar-nominated for playing a complex mother in Doubt (2008), a 1960s housemaid in The Help (2011) and Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). On television, she became the first black actress to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as lawyer Annalise Keating in the ABC legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020). Davis joined the DCEU playing Amanda Waller starting with Suicide Squad (2016). She has also starred in the crime drama Widows(2018), and historical action film The Woman King (2022). Davis and her husband are founders of the production company JuVee Productions, and she is also widely recognized for her advocacy and support for human rights and women of color. She became a L'Oréal Paris ambassador in 2019. The audiobook narration of her 2022 memoir Finding Me won her the Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording. Description above from the Wikipedia article Viola Davis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Photos8

Awards & Nominations16 won · 7 nominated

🏆 Won

Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award

2025
🏆 Won

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

The Woman King

2023
Nominated

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

The Woman King

2023
🏆 Won

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

2021
🏆 Won

Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

2021
Nominated

Academy Award for Best Actress

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

2021
🏆 Won

Time 100

2017
🏆 Won

BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Fences

2017
🏆 Won

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Fences

2017
Nominated

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Fences

2017
🏆 Won

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

How to Get Away with Murder

2015
Nominated

People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series

How to Get Away with Murder

2015
🏆 Won

Crystal Award

2012
Nominated

Academy Award for Best Actress

The Help

2012
🏆 Won

Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play

2010
Nominated

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Doubt

2009
🏆 Won

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

King Hedley II

2001
🏆 Won

Theatre World Award

1996
Nominated

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

1996
🏆 Won

Audie Award for Narration by the Author or Authors

🏆 Won

star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

🏆 Won

Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording

🏆 Won

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play

Acting130 titles

Production13 titles

Creator1 title