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