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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.
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
August 11, 1965
Filmography
Children of Blood and Bone
Mama Agba
2027Movie
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
Narrator (voice)
2026Movie
G20
President Danielle Sutton
2025Movie
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
Narration
2025Movie
Number One on the Call Sheet
Self
2025TV
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Self - Guest
2025TV
G20
Producer
2025Movie
ASALI: Power of the Pollinators
Executive Producer
2025Movie
Number One on the Call Sheet
Executive Producer
2025TV
Kung Fu Panda 4
The Chameleon (voice)
2024Movie
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
2024Movie
Creature Commandos
Amanda Waller (voice)
2024TV
Hot Ones Versus
Self
2024TV
Hollywood Black
Self (archive footage)
2024TV
Air
Deloris Jordan
2023Movie
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Dr. Volumnia Gaul
2023Movie
Silver Dollar Road
Executive Producer
2023Movie
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
Self
2022Movie
Black Adam
Amanda Waller (uncredited)
2022Movie
The Woman King
Nanisca
2022Movie
Food 2050
Self - Narrator (voice)
2022Movie
Peacemaker
Amanda Waller (uncredited)
2022TV
The Jennifer Hudson Show
Self
2022TV
The First Lady
Michelle Obama
2022TV
The Woman King
Producer
2022Movie
The First Lady
Executive Producer
2022TV
The Suicide Squad
Amanda Waller
2021Movie
The Unforgivable
Liz Ingram
2021Movie
C ce soir, le débat
Self - Guest
2021TV
Giving Voice
Self
2020Movie
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Ma Rainey
2020Movie
Dear...
Self
2020TV
Celebrity IOU
Self
2020TV
Operation Othello
Narrator
2019Movie
On Broadway
Self (archive footage)
2019Movie
Troop Zero
Miss Rayleen
2019Movie
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
Florida Evans
2019Movie
A Touch of Sugar
Narrator
2019Movie
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Self
2019TV
Operation Othello
Executive Producer
2019Movie
Troop Zero
Producer
2019Movie
Emanuel
Executive Producer
2019Movie
In a Man's World
Executive Producer
2019TV
In a Man's World
Creator
2019TV
Widows
Veronica Rawlings
2018Movie
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
Self (archive footage)
2018Movie
The Last Defense
Executive Producer
2018TV
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
Self (uncredited)
2017Movie
Night Shift
Executive Producer
2017Movie
Suicide Squad
Amanda Waller
2016Movie
Custody
Martha Schulman
2016Movie
Fences
Rose Maxson
2016Movie
Blackhat
Carol Barrett
2015Movie
Lila & Eve
Lila Walcott
2015Movie
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
Self
2015Movie
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
2015TV
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self
2015TV
Hot Ones
Self
2015TV
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
Professor Lillian Friedman
2014Movie
Get On Up
Susie Brown
2014Movie
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
Professor Lillian Friedman
2014Movie
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
Professor Lillian Friedman
2014Movie
How to Get Away with Murder
Annalise Keating
2014TV
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self
2014TV
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
Self
2014TV
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self - Guest
2014TV
How to Get Away with Murder
Producer
2014TV
Ender's Game
Major Gwen Anderson
2013Movie
Love, Marilyn
Self
2013Movie
Beautiful Creatures
Amma Treadeau
2013Movie
Prisoners
Nancy Birch
2013Movie
Sofia the First
Helen Hanshaw (voice)
2013TV
Won't Back Down
Nona Alberts
2012Movie
Scandal
Annalise Keating
2012TV
The Help
Aibileen Clark
2011Movie
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Abby Black
2011Movie
Dark Girls
Self
2011Movie
Knight and Day
CIA Director Isabel George
2010Movie
Eat Pray Love
Delia Shiraz
2010Movie
Trust
Gail Friedman
2010Movie
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Dr. Eden Minerva
2010Movie
Doubt: Stage to Screen
Self
2009Movie
Law Abiding Citizen
Mayor April Henry
2009Movie
Madea Goes to Jail
Ellen
2009Movie
State of Play
Dr. Judith Franklin
2009Movie
Beyond All Boundaries
Hortense Johnson
2009Movie
United States of Tara
2009TV
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
2009TV
Nights in Rodanthe
Jean
2008Movie
Doubt
Mrs. Miller
2008Movie
The Andromeda Strain
Dr. Charlene Barton
2008TV
Disturbia
Detective Parker
2007Movie
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
Molly Crane
2007Movie
Traveler
Agent Jan Marlow
2007TV
The Graham Norton Show
Self
2007TV
World Trade Center
Mother in Hospital
2006Movie
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
Molly Crane
2006Movie
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
Officer Molly Crane
2006Movie
The Architect
Tonya Neely
2006Movie
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
2006Movie
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
Diane Barrino
2006Movie
Brothers and Sisters
Ellen Snyder
2006TV
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Grandma
2005Movie
Stone Cold
Molly Crane
2005Movie
Syriana
CIA Chairwoman
2005Movie
Threshold
2005TV
Century City
Hannah Crane
2004TV
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self
2003TV
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self
2003TV
Solaris
Gordon
2002Movie
Far from Heaven
Sybil
2002Movie
Antwone Fisher
Eva May
2002Movie
Without a Trace
Audrey Williams
2002TV
Live from E!
Self
2002TV
Hack
Stevie Morgan
2002TV
The Shrink Is In
Robin
2001Movie
Amy & Isabelle
Dottie
2001Movie
Ocean's Eleven
Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
2001Movie
Kate & Leopold
Policewoman
2001Movie
The Division
Dr. Georgia Davis
2001TV
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Terry Randolph
2001TV
The Guardian
Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
2001TV
Traffic
Social Worker
2000Movie
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Attorney Campbell
2000TV
City of Angels
Lynnette Peeler
2000TV
Third Watch
Margo Rodriguez
1999TV
Providence
Dr. Eleanor Weiss
1999TV
Judging Amy
Celeste
1999TV
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Donna Emmett
1999TV
The Pentagon Wars
Sgt. Fanning
1998Movie
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
Sharon Hughes
1998Movie
Out of Sight
Moselle
1998Movie
Grace & Glorie
Rosemary Allbright
1998Movie
The Practice
Aisha Crenshaw
1997TV
The View
Self - Guest
1997TV
The Substance of Fire
Nurse
1996Movie
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
Self
1995TV
NYPD Blue
Woman
1993TV
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Self - Guest
1992TV
The Simpsons
Narrator (voice)
1989TV
CBS News Sunday Morning
Self
1979TV
60 Minutes
Self
1968TV
The Grammys
Self
1959TV
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
1956TV
The Oscars
Self
1953TV
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Rosemary Allbright
1951TV
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter
1944TV
Two Butterflies
—Movie
I Almost Forgot About You
Dr. Georgia Young
—Movie
Small Great Things
—Movie
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Rachel Dupree
—Movie
Ally Clark
Ally Clark
—Movie
House of Games
—Movie
Ascent
Catriona Vail
—TV
Ally Clark
Producer
—Movie
House of Games
Producer
—Movie
Mfinda
Executive Producer
—Movie
Black Boys Don't Sew
Executive Producer
—Movie
The Untamed: A Sinner's Prayer
Producer
—Movie
A Menina Que Voa
Production Accountant
—Movie
Rise of the Empress
Executive Producer
—TV