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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Photos
Films (92)
Children of Blood and Bone
2027 · Mama Agba
Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry
2026 · Self
The Color of Cola
2026 · Executive Producer
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
2026 · Narrator (voice)
ASALI: Power of the Pollinators
2025 · Executive Producer
G20
2025 · President Danielle Sutton, Producer
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
2025 · Narration
Kung Fu Panda 4
2024 · The Chameleon (voice)
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2024 · Self
Hunger Games : La Ballade du serpent et de l'oiseau chanteur
2023 · Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Silver Dollar Road
2023 · Executive Producer
Air: La historia detrás del logo
2023 · Deloris Jordan
Food 2050
2022 · Self - Narrator (voice)
Black Adam
2022 · Amanda Waller (uncredited)
La femme roi
2022 · Nanisca, Producer
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
2022 · Self
Impardonnable
2021 · Liz Ingram
L’escadron suicide : la mission
2021 · Amanda Waller
Le Blues de Ma Rainey
2020 · Ma Rainey
Trouver sa voix, le concours August Wilson
2020 · Self
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019 · Florida Evans
On Broadway
2019 · Self (archive footage)
Emanuel
2019 · Executive Producer
A Touch of Sugar
2019 · Narrator
Tropa Cero
2019 · Miss Rayleen, Producer
Les Veuves
2018 · Veronica Rawlings
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018 · Self (archive footage)
Night Shift
2017 · Executive Producer
Barreras
2016 · Rose Maxson
L'escadron Suicide
2016 · Amanda Waller
Droit de garde
2016 · Martha Schulman
Ángel de venganza
2015 · Lila Walcott
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015 · Self
Hacker
2015 · Carol Barrett
La disparition d'Eleanor Rigby : Elle
2014 · Professor Lillian Friedman
La disparition d'Eleanor Rigby : Lui
2014 · Professor Lillian Friedman
Get On Up
2014 · Susie Brown
La disparition d'Eleanor Rigby : Elle & lui
2014 · Professor Lillian Friedman
La Stratégie Ender
2013 · Major Gwen Anderson
Prisonniers
2013 · Nancy Birch
Avec amour, Marilyn
2013 · Self
Sublimes Créatures
2013 · Amma Treadeau
De leurs propres ailes
2012 · Nona Alberts
Extrêmement fort & incroyablement près
2011 · Abby Black
Dark Girls
2011 · Self
La Couleur des sentiments
2011 · Aibileen Clark
Une drôle d'histoire
2010 · Eden Minerva
Trust
2010 · Gail Friedman
Mange, prie, aime
2010 · Delia Shiraz
Night and Day
2010 · CIA Director Isabel George
Beyond All Boundaries
2009 · Hortense Johnson
Que justice soit faite
2009 · Mayor April Henry
Jeux de pouvoir
2009 · Dr. Judith Franklin
Doubt: Stage to Screen
2009 · Self
Madea va en prison
2009 · Ellen
Doute
2008 · Mrs. Miller
Nos nuits à Rodanthe
2008 · Jean
Jesse Stone : L'Empreinte du Passé
2007 · Molly Crane
Paranoïak
2007 · Detective Parker
The Architect
2006 · Tonya Neely
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2006 · Diane Barrino
Las Torres Gemelas
2006 · Mother in Hospital
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006 · Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
Jesse Stone : Meurtre à Paradise
2006 · Molly Crane
Jesse Stone : Une ville trop tranquille
2006 · Officer Molly Crane
Syriana
2005 · CIA Chairwoman
Réussir ou mourir
2005 · Grandma
Jesse Stone : En l'absence de preuves
2005 · Molly Crane
Antwone Fisher: El triunfo del espíritu
2002 · Eva May
Solaris
2002 · Gordon
Loin du paradis
2002 · Sybil
Kate et Léopold
2001 · Policewoman
L'inconnu de Las Vegas
2001 · Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
Amours sous thérapie
2001 · Robin
Amy & Isabelle
2001 · Dottie
Tráfico
2000 · Social Worker
Grace & Glorie
1998 · Rosemary Allbright
Out of Sight
1998 · Moselle
The Pentagon Wars
1998 · Sgt. Fanning
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
1998 · Sharon Hughes
The Substance of Fire
1996 · Nurse
Operation Othello
· Narrator, Executive Producer
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, Producer
House of Games
· Producer
Mfinda
· Executive Producer
Black Boys Don't Sew
· Executive Producer
The Untamed: A Sinner's Prayer
· Producer
A Menina Que Voa
· Production Accountant
Séries (61)
En haut de l’affiche
2025 · Self, Executive Producer
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
2025 · Self - Guest
Creature Commandos
2024 · Amanda Waller (voice)
Hollywood Black
2024 · Self (archive footage)
Hot Ones Versus
2024 · Self
The Jennifer Hudson Show
2022 · Self
The First Lady
2022 · Michelle Obama, Executive Producer
Peacemaker
2022 · Amanda Waller (uncredited)
C ce soir
2021 · Self - Guest
Lettre à...
2020 · Self
Hollywood rénove
2020 · Self
In a Man's World
2019 · Executive Producer, Creator
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019 · Self
The Last Defense
2018 · Executive Producer
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015 · Self, Self - Guest
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015 · Self
Hot Ones
2015 · Self
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014 · Self
Murder
2014 · Annalise Keating, Producer
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014 · Self - Guest
Le Tonight Show
2014 · Self, Self - Guest
Princesse Sofia
2013 · Helen Hanshaw (voice)
Scandale
2012 · Annalise Keating
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009 · Self - Guest
United States of Tara
2009
La Menace Andromède
2008 · Dr. Charlene Barton
Traveler: Ennemis d'état
2007 · Agent Jan Marlow
El show de Graham Norton
2007 · Self
Brothers and Sisters
2006 · Ellen Snyder
Threshold : Premier contact
2005
Century City
2004 · Hannah Crane
Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003 · Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003 · Self, Self - Guest
Le Justicier de l'ombre
2002 · Stevie Morgan
FBI : Portés Disparus
2002 · Audrey Williams
Le Tapis Rouge
2002 · Self
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001 · Terry Randolph
Le Protecteur
2001 · Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
The Division
2001 · Dr. Georgia Davis
Les Experts
2000 · Attorney Campbell
City of Angels
2000 · Lynnette Peeler
Third Watch
1999 · Margo Rodriguez
New York Unité Spéciale
1999 · Donna Emmett
Judging Amy
1999 · Celeste
Providence
1999 · Dr. Eleanor Weiss
The View
1997 · Self - Guest, Self
The Practice
1997 · Aisha Crenshaw
Access Hollywood
1996 · Self
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
1995 · Self
NYPD Blue
1993 · Woman
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992 · Self - Guest
Les Simpson
1989 · Narrator (voice)
CBS News Sunday Morning
1979 · Self
60 Minutes
1968 · Self
The Grammys
1959 · Self
Tony Awards
1956 · Self - Presenter
The Oscars
1953 · Self
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · Rosemary Allbright
Golden Globe Awards
1944 · Self - Presenter, Self - Nominee
Ascent
· Catriona Vail, Executive Producer
Rise of the Empress
· Executive Producer