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