Viola Davis
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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.
Known for
Credits
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
The Suicide Squad (2021)
as Amanda Waller
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
as The Chameleon (voice)
Black Adam (2022)
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
The Help (2011)
as Aibileen Clark
Prisoners (2013)
as Nancy Birch
Suicide Squad (2016)
as Amanda Waller
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
as Mayor April Henry
Knight and Day (2010)
as CIA Director Isabel George
Ender's Game (2013)
as Major Gwen Anderson
Eat Pray Love (2010)
as Delia Shiraz
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
as Ma Rainey
The Unforgivable (2021)
as Liz Ingram
Traffic (2000)
as Social Worker
The Woman King (2022)
as Nanisca
State of Play (2009)
as Dr. Judith Franklin
Blackhat (2015)
as Carol Barrett
Air (2023)
as Deloris Jordan
Widows (2018)
as Veronica Rawlings
Disturbia (2007)
as Detective Parker
Fences (2016)
as Rose Maxson
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
as Grandma
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
as Amma Treadeau
Kate & Leopold (2001)
as Policewoman
Out of Sight (1998)
as Moselle
World Trade Center (2006)
as Mother in Hospital
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
as Abby Black
It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
as Eden Minerva
G20 (2025)
as President Danielle Sutton
Trust (2010)
as Gail Friedman
Solaris (2002)
as Gordon
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
as Jean
Syriana (2005)
as CIA Chairwoman
Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
as Ellen
Far from Heaven (2002)
as Sybil
Doubt (2008)
as Mrs. Miller
Get On Up (2014)
as Susie Brown
Children of Blood and Bone (2027)
as Mama Agba
The Pentagon Wars (1998)
as Sgt. Fanning
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006)
as Molly Crane
Won't Back Down (2012)
as Nona Alberts
Custody (2016)
as Martha Schulman
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014)
as Professor Lillian Friedman
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2014)
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Stone Cold (2005)
as Molly Crane
Antwone Fisher (2002)
as Eva May
Troop Zero (2019)
as Miss Rayleen
Love, Marilyn (2013)
as Self
The Shrink Is In (2001)
as Robin
Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006)
as Officer Molly Crane
Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007)
as Molly Crane
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him (2014)
as Professor Lillian Friedman
The Architect (2006)
as Tonya Neely
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times" (2019)
as Florida Evans
Lila & Eve (2015)
as Lila Walcott
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays (2006)
as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2024)
as Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
Beyond All Boundaries (2009)
as Hortense Johnson
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story (2006)
as Diane Barrino
The Substance of Fire (1996)
as Nurse
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause (2026)
as Narrator (voice)
Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry (2026)
as Self
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand (2015)
as Self
Dark Girls (2011)
as Self
Grace & Glorie (1998)
as Rosemary Allbright
Doubt: Stage to Screen (2009)
as Self
Amy & Isabelle (2001)
as Dottie
Miss Apprehension and Squirt (1998)
as Sharon Hughes
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree (—)
as Rachel Dupree
On Broadway (2019)
as Self (archive footage)
Giving Voice (2020)
as Self
Operation Othello (—)
as Narrator
I Almost Forgot About You (—)
as Dr. Georgia Young
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality (2025)
as Narration
Small Great Things (—)
Actor
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event (2022)
as Self
Ally Clark (—)
as Ally Clark
A Touch of Sugar (2019)
as Narrator
House of Games (—)
Actor
Food 2050 (2022)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Two Butterflies (—)
Actor