Viola Davis
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1965-08-11 (59 years old)
Place of Birth
St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA
Viola Davis
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.
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Known For
Acting
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
as Rachel Dupree
Operation Othello
as Narrator
I Almost Forgot About You
as Dr. Georgia Young
(2027)
Children of Blood and Bone
as Mama Agba
(2025)
G20
as President Danielle Sutton
(2024)
Kung Fu Panda 4
as The Chameleon (voice)
(2024)
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
as Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
(2023)
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
(2023)
Air
as Deloris Jordan
(2022)
Black Adam
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
(2022)
The Woman King
as Nanisca
(2022)
(2021)
The Suicide Squad
as Amanda Waller
(2021)
The Unforgivable
as Liz Ingram
(2020)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
as Ma Rainey
(2020)
Giving Voice
as Self
(2019)
Troop Zero
as Miss Rayleen
(2019)
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
(2019)
(2019)
A Touch of Sugar
as Narrator
(2018)
Widows
as Veronica Rawlings
(2018)
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
as Self (archive footage)
(2016)
Suicide Squad
as Amanda Waller
(2016)
Fences
as Rose Maxson
(2016)
Custody
as Martha Schulman
(2015)
Blackhat
as Carol Barrett
(2015)
Lila & Eve
as Lila Walcott
(2015)
(2014)
Get on Up
as Susie Brown
(2014)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
as Professor Lillian Friedman
(2014)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
as Professor Lillian Friedman
(2014)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
as Professor Lillian Friedman
(2013)
Prisoners
as Nancy Birch
(2013)
Ender's Game
as Major Gwen Anderson
(2013)
Beautiful Creatures
as Amma Treadeau
(2013)
Love, Marilyn
as Self
(2012)
Won't Back Down
as Nona Alberts
(2011)
The Help
as Aibileen Clark
(2011)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
as Abby Black
(2011)
Touch of Evil
as The Vengeful Caretaker
(2010)
Knight and Day
as CIA Director Isabel George
(2010)
Eat Pray Love
as Delia Shiraz
(2010)
Trust
as Gail Friedman
(2010)
It's Kind of a Funny Story
as Dr. Eden Minerva
(2009)
Law Abiding Citizen
as Mayor April Henry
(2009)
State of Play
as Dr. Judith Franklin
(2009)
Madea Goes to Jail
as Ellen
(2009)
Beyond All Boundaries
as Hortense Johnson
(2009)
Doubt: Stage to Screen
as Self
(2008)
Doubt
as Mrs. Miller
(2008)
Nights in Rodanthe
as Jean
(2007)
Disturbia
as Detective Parker
(2007)
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
as Molly Crane
(2006)
World Trade Center
as Mother in Hospital with Donna
(2006)
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
as Molly Crane
(2006)
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
as Officer Molly Crane
(2006)
The Architect
as Tonya Neely
(2006)
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
(2006)
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
as Diane Barrino
(2005)
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
as Grandma
(2005)
Syriana
as CIA Chairwoman
(2005)
Stone Cold
as Molly Crane
(2002)
Solaris
as Gordon
(2002)
Antwone Fisher
as Eva May
(2002)
Far from Heaven
as Sybil
(2001)
Ocean's Eleven
as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
(2001)
Kate & Leopold
as Policewoman
(2001)
Amy & Isabelle
as Dottie
(2001)
The Shrink Is In
as Robin
(2000)
Traffic
as Social Worker
(1998)
Out of Sight
as Moselle
(1998)
The Pentagon Wars
as Sgt. Fanning
(1998)
Grace & Glorie
as Rosemary Allbright
(1998)
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
as Sharon Hughes
(1996)
The Substance of Fire
as Nurse
Crew
Operation Othello
Executive Producer
(2025)
G20
Producer
(2023)
Silver Dollar Road
Executive Producer
(2022)
The Woman King
Producer
(2019)
Troop Zero
Producer
(2019)
Emanuel
Executive Producer
(2017)
Night Shift
Executive Producer