Viola Davis is an American actress.
Beginning her career on the stage, Davis won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for her role
in August Wilson's King Hedley II.
She won a second Drama Desk Award for Intimate Apparel, followed by a second Tony and a third
Drama Desk Award for her role in Fences.
Among her most notable films are Traffic, Antwone Fisher, and Solaris.
Her eleven-minute-long performance as Mrs. Miller in the film adaptation of John Patrick
Shanley's Doubt earned several honors, including an Academy Award nomination.
Her role as the maid Aibileen Clark in the film The Help garnered two Screen Actors Guild
Awards, a BAFTA Award nomination, another Academy Award nomination, and a Golden Globe
nomination.
In addition to her success, she was listed in Time's 100 Most Influential People in the
World in 2012.
In 2014, Davis stars in the ABC legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder as Professor Annalise
Keating.
Early life Davis was born on her grandmother's farm,
on the former Singleton Plantation, in St. Matthews, South Carolina.
She is the second youngest of six children.
Her father, Dan Davis, was a horse trainer; her mother, Mary Alice, was a maid, factory
worker, and homemaker, as well as a civil rights activist.
Her family moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island a few months after she was born.
Davis has described herself as having "lived in abject poverty and dysfunction" during
her childhood.
Davis partially credits her love of stage acting with her involvement in the arts at
her alma mater, Central Falls High School.
Davis majored in theatre at Rhode Island College, graduating in 1988; in 2002 she received an
honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from the college.
She was involved in the federal TRIO Upward Bound and TRIO Student Support Services programs.
While Davis was a teenager, her talent was recognized by Bernard Masterson when, as director
of Young People's School for the Performing Arts in West Warwick, Rhode Island, he awarded
Davis a scholarship into that program.
She also attended the Juilliard School for four years, as a member of the Drama Division's
Group 22.
Career In 2001, she won the Tony Award and a Drama
Desk Award for her portrayal of Tonya in King Hedley II, a "35-year-old mother fighting
eloquently for the right to abort a pregnancy."
She has also won another Drama Desk Award for her work in a 2004 off-Broadway production
of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage.
Davis appeared in numerous films, including three films directed by Steven Soderbergh
– Out of Sight, Solaris and Traffic, as well as Syriana, which Soderbergh produced.
Viola was also the uncredited voice of the parole board interrogator who questions Danny
Ocean in the first scene in Ocean's Eleven.
She also gave brief performances in the films Kate & Leopold and Antwone Fisher.
Her television work includes a recurring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; starring
roles in two short-lived series, Traveler and Century City; and a special guest appearance
in "Badge", a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode.
In 2008, Davis played Mrs. Miller in the film adaptation to the Broadway play Doubt, with
Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams.
Davis was nominated for several awards for this performance, including a Golden Globe
and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
On June 30, 2009, Davis was inducted into The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On June 13, 2010, Davis won her second Tony Award for her role as Rose Maxson in a revival
of August Wilson's Fences.
She is the second African-American woman to win the award, after Phylicia Rashād.
Davis played the role of Dr. Minerva in It's Kind of a Funny Story, a coming-of-age film
written and directed by Anna Boden with Ryan Fleck, adapted from the 2006 novel by Ned
Vizzini.
In August 2011, Davis played the role of Aibileen Clark in the screen adaptation of Kathryn
Stockett's novel The Help, directed by Tate Taylor.
For her performance, Davis garnered great critical acclaim, and eventually received
two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as her second Academy Award nomination, which
she ultimately lost to her good friend Meryl Streep.
She also received Golden Globe Award and BAFTA nominations for the same performance.
In 2012, Time magazine listed Davis as one of the most influential people in the world.
Also in 2012, Glamour magazine named Davis Glamour's Film Actress of the year.
On June 12, 2012, Davis was presented with the Women in Film's Crystal Award by her friend
and Oscar rival that year Meryl Streep.
On June 25, 2012, The Walk of Fame Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced
that Davis was part of the new group of entertainment professionals who have been selected to receive
stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.
In April 2013 it was reported that Davis is in talks to play a starring role in the untitled
Michael Mann-directed film that will star Chris Hemsworth and Maggie Casey as his love
interest.
Legendary Pictures is producing the thriller.
In September 2013, it was announced that Davis would reunite with The Help director Tate
Taylor in a biopic of James Brown playing Brown's mother.
Her The Help co-star Octavia Spencer was also slated for a role.
Davis later revealed that her daughter Genesis would also appear in the movie.
In February of 2014, Davis joined the cast of Shonda Rhimes’ pilot How to Get Away
with Murder as the lead character.
It was picked up to series for the fall of 2014-15 on May 8, 2014.
Personal life Davis married actor Julius Tennon June 2003.
They have a daughter, Genesis, whom they adopted as a newborn in October 2011.
Davis is stepmother to Tennon's two sons from previous relationships.
Filmography Film
Television Theatre credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links Viola Davis at the Internet Movie Database
Viola Davis at the Internet Broadway Database Viola Davis at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Works by or about Viola Davis in libraries