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