Viola Davis
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Aug 11, 1965 (age 61)
- Place of birth
- St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA
- Credits
- 140
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
Suicide Squad
2016Movie
Amanda Waller
Prisoners
2013Movie
Nancy Birch
Ocean's Eleven
2001Movie
Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
The Simpsons
1989TV
Narrator (voice)
The Suicide Squad
2021Movie
Amanda Waller
The Help
2011Movie
Aibileen Clark
Filmography
Children of Blood and Bone
2027Movie
Mama Agba
Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry
2026Movie
Self
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
2026Movie
Narrator (voice)
G20
2025Movie
President Danielle Sutton
Number One on the Call Sheet
2025TV
Self
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
2025TV
Self - Guest
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
2025Movie
Narration
Creature Commandos
2024TV
Amanda Waller (voice)
Hollywood Black
2024TV
Self (archive footage)
Kung Fu Panda 4
2024Movie
The Chameleon (voice)
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2024Movie
Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
Hot Ones Versus
2024TV
Self
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2023Movie
Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Air
2023Movie
Deloris Jordan
Food 2050
2022Movie
Self - Narrator (voice)
Black Adam
2022Movie
Amanda Waller (uncredited)
The Woman King
2022Movie
Nanisca
The Jennifer Hudson Show
2022TV
Self
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
2022Movie
Self
The First Lady
2022TV
Michelle Obama
Peacemaker
2022TV
Amanda Waller (uncredited)
The Unforgivable
2021Movie
Liz Ingram
The Suicide Squad
2021Movie
Amanda Waller
C ce soir
2021TV
Self - Guest
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2020Movie
Ma Rainey
Dear...
2020TV
Self
Celebrity IOU
2020TV
Self
Giving Voice
2020Movie
Self
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019Movie
Florida Evans
On Broadway
2019Movie
Self (archive footage)
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019TV
Self
A Touch of Sugar
2019Movie
Narrator
Troop Zero
2019Movie
Miss Rayleen
Widows
2018Movie
Veronica Rawlings
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018Movie
Self (archive footage)
Fences
2016Movie
Rose Maxson
Suicide Squad
2016Movie
Amanda Waller
Custody
2016Movie
Martha Schulman
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015TV
Self, Self - Guest
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015TV
Self
Lila & Eve
2015Movie
Lila Walcott
Hot Ones
2015TV
Self
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015Movie
Self
Blackhat
2015Movie
Carol Barrett
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014TV
Self
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2014Movie
Professor Lillian Friedman
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2014Movie
Professor Lillian Friedman
How to Get Away with Murder
2014TV
Annalise Keating
Get On Up
2014Movie
Susie Brown
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
2014Movie
Professor Lillian Friedman
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014TV
Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014TV
Self, Self - Guest
Ender's Game
2013Movie
Major Gwen Anderson
Prisoners
2013Movie
Nancy Birch
Love, Marilyn
2013Movie
Self
Beautiful Creatures
2013Movie
Amma Treadeau
Sofia the First
2013TV
Helen Hanshaw (voice)
Won't Back Down
2012Movie
Nona Alberts
Scandal
2012TV
Annalise Keating
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
2011Movie
Abby Black
Dark Girls
2011Movie
Self
The Help
2011Movie
Aibileen Clark
It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010Movie
Eden Minerva
Trust
2010Movie
Gail Friedman
Eat Pray Love
2010Movie
Delia Shiraz
Knight and Day
2010Movie
CIA Director Isabel George
Beyond All Boundaries
2009Movie
Hortense Johnson
Law Abiding Citizen
2009Movie
Mayor April Henry
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009TV
Self - Guest
State of Play
2009Movie
Dr. Judith Franklin
Doubt: Stage to Screen
2009Movie
Self
Madea Goes to Jail
2009Movie
Ellen
United States of Tara
2009TV
Doubt
2008Movie
Mrs. Miller
Nights in Rodanthe
2008Movie
Jean
The Andromeda Strain
2008TV
Dr. Charlene Barton
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
2007Movie
Molly Crane
Traveler
2007TV
Agent Jan Marlow
Disturbia
2007Movie
Detective Parker
The Graham Norton Show
2007TV
Self
The Architect
2006Movie
Tonya Neely
Brothers and Sisters
2006TV
Ellen Snyder
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2006Movie
Diane Barrino
World Trade Center
2006Movie
Mother in Hospital
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006Movie
Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
2006Movie
Molly Crane
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
2006Movie
Officer Molly Crane
Syriana
2005Movie
CIA Chairwoman
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2005Movie
Grandma
Threshold
2005TV
Stone Cold
2005Movie
Molly Crane
Century City
2004TV
Hannah Crane
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003TV
Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003TV
Self, Self - Guest
Antwone Fisher
2002Movie
Eva May
Solaris
2002Movie
Gordon
Far from Heaven
2002Movie
Sybil
Hack
2002TV
Stevie Morgan
Without a Trace
2002TV
Audrey Williams
Live from E!
2002TV
Self
Kate & Leopold
2001Movie
Policewoman
Ocean's Eleven
2001Movie
Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001TV
Terry Randolph
The Guardian
2001TV
Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
The Shrink Is In
2001Movie
Robin
Amy & Isabelle
2001Movie
Dottie
The Division
2001TV
Dr. Georgia Davis
Traffic
2000Movie
Social Worker
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000TV
Attorney Campbell
City of Angels
2000TV
Lynnette Peeler
Third Watch
1999TV
Margo Rodriguez
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999TV
Donna Emmett
Judging Amy
1999TV
Celeste
Providence
1999TV
Dr. Eleanor Weiss
Grace & Glorie
1998Movie
Rosemary Allbright
Out of Sight
1998Movie
Moselle
The Pentagon Wars
1998Movie
Sgt. Fanning
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
1998Movie
Sharon Hughes
The View
1997TV
Self - Guest, Self
The Practice
1997TV
Aisha Crenshaw
The Substance of Fire
1996Movie
Nurse
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
1995TV
Self
NYPD Blue
1993TV
Woman
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992TV
Self - Guest
The Simpsons
1989TV
Narrator (voice)
CBS News Sunday Morning
1979TV
Self
60 Minutes
1968TV
Self
The Grammys
1959TV
Self
Tony Awards
1956TV
Self - Presenter
The Oscars
1953TV
Self
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951TV
Rosemary Allbright
Golden Globe Awards
1944TV
Self - Presenter, Self - Nominee
Ascent
TV
Catriona Vail
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Movie
Rachel Dupree
Operation Othello
Movie
Narrator
Small Great Things
Movie
I Almost Forgot About You
Movie
Dr. Georgia Young
Ally Clark
Movie
Ally Clark
House of Games
Movie
Two Butterflies
Movie