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Viola Davis

Born 1965-08-11
📍 St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA

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.

Filmography 133

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