Viola Davis
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- August 11, 1965 (age 61)
- Birthplace
- St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Operation Othello
Movie · as Narrator
Two Butterflies
Movie
I Almost Forgot About You
Movie · as Dr. Georgia Young
Small Great Things
Movie
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Movie · as Rachel Dupree
Ally Clark
Movie · as Ally Clark
House of Games
Movie
Ascent
TV · as Catriona Vail · 1 ep
Children of Blood and Bone
Movie · as Mama Agba
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry
Movie · as Self
G20
Movie · as President Danielle Sutton
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
Movie · as Narration
Number One on the Call Sheet
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
Kung Fu Panda 4
Movie · as The Chameleon (voice)
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Movie · as Self
Creature Commandos
TV · as Amanda Waller (voice) · 4 eps
Hot Ones Versus
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Hollywood Black
TV · as Self (archive footage) · 4 eps
Air
Movie · as Deloris Jordan
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Movie · as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
Movie · as Self
Black Adam
Movie · as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
The Woman King
Movie · as Nanisca
Food 2050
Movie · as Self - Narrator (voice)
Peacemaker
TV · as Amanda Waller (uncredited) · 2 eps
The Jennifer Hudson Show
TV · as Self · 3 eps
The First Lady
TV · as Michelle Obama · 10 eps
The Suicide Squad
Movie · as Amanda Waller
The Unforgivable
Movie · as Liz Ingram
C ce soir
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
Giving Voice
Movie · as Self
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Movie · as Ma Rainey
Dear...
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Celebrity IOU
TV · as Self · 1 ep
On Broadway
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Troop Zero
Movie · as Miss Rayleen
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
Movie · as Florida Evans
A Touch of Sugar
Movie · as Narrator
The Kelly Clarkson Show
TV · as Self · 2 eps
Widows
Movie · as Veronica Rawlings
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Suicide Squad
Movie · as Amanda Waller
Custody
Movie · as Martha Schulman
Fences
Movie · as Rose Maxson
Blackhat
Movie · as Carol Barrett
Lila & Eve
Movie · as Lila Walcott
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
Movie · as Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV · as Self, Self - Guest · 1 ep
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Hot Ones
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
Movie · as Professor Lillian Friedman
Get On Up
Movie · as Susie Brown
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
Movie · as Professor Lillian Friedman
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
Movie · as Professor Lillian Friedman
How to Get Away with Murder
TV · as Annalise Keating · 90 eps
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
TV · as Self, Self - Guest · 1 ep
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
TV · as Self · 4 eps
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
Ender's Game
Movie · as Major Gwen Anderson
Love, Marilyn
Movie · as Self
Beautiful Creatures
Movie · as Amma Treadeau
Prisoners
Movie · as Nancy Birch
Sofia the First
TV · as Helen Hanshaw (voice) · 1 ep
Won't Back Down
Movie · as Nona Alberts
Scandal
TV · as Annalise Keating · 1 ep
The Help
Movie · as Aibileen Clark
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Movie · as Abby Black
Dark Girls
Movie · as Self
Knight and Day
Movie · as CIA Director Isabel George
Eat Pray Love
Movie · as Delia Shiraz
Trust
Movie · as Gail Friedman
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Movie · as Eden Minerva
Doubt: Stage to Screen
Movie · as Self
Law Abiding Citizen
Movie · as Mayor April Henry
Madea Goes to Jail
Movie · as Ellen
State of Play
Movie · as Dr. Judith Franklin
Beyond All Boundaries
Movie · as Hortense Johnson
United States of Tara
TV · 1 ep
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
Nights in Rodanthe
Movie · as Jean
Doubt
Movie · as Mrs. Miller
The Andromeda Strain
TV · as Dr. Charlene Barton · 2 eps
Disturbia
Movie · as Detective Parker
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
Movie · as Molly Crane
Traveler
TV · as Agent Jan Marlow · 8 eps
The Graham Norton Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
World Trade Center
Movie · as Mother in Hospital
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
Movie · as Molly Crane
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
Movie · as Officer Molly Crane
The Architect
Movie · as Tonya Neely
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Movie · as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
Movie · as Diane Barrino
Brothers and Sisters
TV · as Ellen Snyder · 1 ep
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Movie · as Grandma
Stone Cold
Movie · as Molly Crane
Syriana
Movie · as CIA Chairwoman
Threshold
TV · 1 ep
Century City
TV · as Hannah Crane · 9 eps
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV · as Self, Self - Guest · 2 eps
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Solaris
Movie · as Gordon
Far from Heaven
Movie · as Sybil
Antwone Fisher
Movie · as Eva May
Without a Trace
TV · as Audrey Williams · 1 ep
Live from E!
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Hack
TV · as Stevie Morgan · 1 ep
The Shrink Is In
Movie · as Robin
Amy & Isabelle
Movie · as Dottie
Ocean's Eleven
Movie · as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
Kate & Leopold
Movie · as Policewoman
The Division
TV · as Dr. Georgia Davis · 1 ep
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
TV · as Terry Randolph · 1 ep
The Guardian
TV · as Suzanna Clemons' Attorney · 1 ep
Traffic
Movie · as Social Worker
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
TV · as Attorney Campbell · 1 ep
City of Angels
TV · as Lynnette Peeler · 25 eps
Third Watch
TV · as Margo Rodriguez · 1 ep
Providence
TV · as Dr. Eleanor Weiss · 1 ep
Judging Amy
TV · as Celeste · 1 ep
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV · as Donna Emmett · 7 eps
The Pentagon Wars
Movie · as Sgt. Fanning
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
Movie · as Sharon Hughes
Out of Sight
Movie · as Moselle
Grace & Glorie
Movie · as Rosemary Allbright
The Practice
TV · as Aisha Crenshaw · 1 ep
The View
TV · as Self - Guest · 2 eps
The Substance of Fire
Movie · as Nurse
Access Hollywood
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
TV · as Self · 1 ep
NYPD Blue
TV · as Woman · 1 ep
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
The Simpsons
TV · as Narrator (voice) · 1 ep
CBS News Sunday Morning
TV · as Self · 1 ep
60 Minutes
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Grammys
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Tony Awards
TV · as Self - Presenter · 1 ep
The Oscars
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV · as Rosemary Allbright · 1 ep
Golden Globe Awards
TV · as Self - Presenter, Self - Nominee · 1 ep