Viola Davis
Viola Davis (born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of numerous accolades, Davis is one of the few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT); additionally, she is the sole African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting as well as the third person to achieve both statuses. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017, and in 2020, The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Davis began her career in Central Falls, Rhode Island, appearing in small stage productions. After graduating from the Juilliard School in 1993, she won an Obie Award in 1999 for her performance as Ruby McCollum in Everybody's Ruby. She played minor roles in film and television in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before earning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Tonya in the 2001 Broadway production of August Wilson's King Hedley II. Her film breakthrough came with her role as a troubled mother in the drama Doubt (2008), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Davis won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Rose Maxson in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences.
For starring as a 1960s housemaid in the comedy-drama The Help (2011), Davis received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. From 2014 to 2020, she played lawyer Annalise Keating in the ABC drama series How to Get Away with Murder, for which she became the first black actress to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2015. In 2016, Davis reprised the role of Maxson in the film adaptation of Fences, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Amanda Waller in the DC Extended Universe, beginning with Suicide Squad (2016). In 2020, she portrayed Ma Rainey in the biopic Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, for which she received a fourth Academy Award nomination, becoming the most-Oscar-nominated black actress. Her performances in Widows (2018) and The Woman King (2022) earned her further nominations for the BAFTA Best Actress Award, making her the most-BAFTA-nominated black actress.
Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, are founders of a production company, JuVee Productions. Davis is also widely recognized for her advocacy and support of human rights and equal rights for women and women of color. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017 and became a L'Oréal Paris ambassador in 2019. The audiobook narration of her 2022 memoir Finding Me earned Davis a Grammy Award in 2023.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 26.911 |
Birthday | 1965-08-11 |
Place of Birth | Saint Matthews, South Carolina, USA |
Also Known As | Виола Дэвис, 바이올라 데이비스, ヴィオラ・デイヴィス, ვიოლა დევისი, 薇拉·戴維絲, |
2005
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
6.8/851
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
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Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2006
World Trade Center
6.147/1591
Two police officers struggle to survive when they become trapped beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
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World Trade Center
2002
Solaris
5.904/1243
A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet.
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Solaris
2002
Far from Heaven
7.034/580
In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife's life is upended by a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in society.
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Far from Heaven
2006
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
6.873/102
When Jesse Stone looks into the murder of a teen-age girl whose body is found floating in a local lake, it brings him up against the Boston mob and in...
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Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
2009
Law Abiding Citizen
7.386/4923
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer...
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Law Abiding Citizen
2005
Stone Cold
6.82/122
Jesse Stone is a former L.A. homicide detective who left behind the big city and an ex-wife to become the police chief of the quiet New England fishin...
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Stone Cold
2006
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
6.814/102
A prequel to "Stone Cold", the story picks up after Jesse Stone is fired from the Los Angeles Police Department. He becomes an unlikely candidate recr...
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Jesse Stone: Night Passage
2007
Disturbia
6.694/3403
Kale is a 17-year-old placed under house arrest after punching his teacher. He is confined to his house, and decides to use his free time spying on hi...
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Disturbia
2008
Nights in Rodanthe
6.249/571
Adrienne is trying to decide whether to stay in her unhappy marriage or not, and her life changes when Paul, a doctor who is travelling to reconcile w...
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Nights in Rodanthe
2008
Doubt
7.195/1612
In 1964, a Catholic school nun questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student, suspecting him of abuse.
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Doubt
1998
The Pentagon Wars
6.824/51
From the director of “Made In America” and “The Money Pit” comes a hilarious look at one of the most expensive blunders in military history. Over 17 y...
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The Pentagon Wars
2009
Madea Goes to Jail
6.6/181
After a high-speed car chase, Madea winds up behind bars because her quick temper gets the best of her. Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Josh Ha...
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Madea Goes to Jail
2010
Knight and Day
6.207/4304
A fugitive couple goes on a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure where nothing and no one – even themselves – are what they seem. Amid shifting al...
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Knight and Day
2010
Eat Pray Love
6.247/2345
Liz Gilbert had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having – a husband, a house and a successful career – yet like so many others, she f...
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Eat Pray Love
2010
Trust
6.57/901
A suburban family is torn apart when fourteen-year-old Annie meets her first boyfriend online. After months of communicating via online chat and phone...
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Trust
2009
State of Play
6.792/1854
When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.
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State of Play
2001
The Shrink Is In
4.8/26
A young woman impersonates a shrink to win over her Prince Charming.
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The Shrink Is In
2011
The Help
8.205/7911
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson...
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The Help
2013
Ender's Game
6.594/5639
Based on the classic novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is the story of the Earth's most gifted children training to defend their homeplanet in t...
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Ender's Game
2016
Custody
7/47
When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law sc...
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Custody
2013
Love, Marilyn
6.5/59
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote...
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Love, Marilyn
2001
Amy & Isabelle
6.7/3
In 1971, in the small town of Shirley Falls, in Maine, the odd and lonely secretary Isabelle Goodrow raises her teenager daughter Amy alone. She has o...
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Amy & Isabelle
2013
Beautiful Creatures
6/2777
Ethan Wate just wants to get to know Lena Duchannes better, but unbeknownst to him, Lena has strange powers. As Lena's 16th birthday approaches she m...
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Beautiful Creatures
2013
Prisoners
8.095/11302
Keller Dover is facing a parent’s worst nightmare: his young daughter and her friend have gone missing. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arre...
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Prisoners
2014
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
6.181/274
A New York couple's relationship is tested after the loss of their child. This film is the wide-released combination of the original two :him and :her...
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The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
1996
The Substance of Fire
6.3/3
Isaac Geldhart is a Holocaust survivor who, overcome by grief at the recent death of his wife, seems determined to run his publishing firm into the gr...
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The Substance of Fire
2014
Get on Up
6.8/497
A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
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Get on Up
2014
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
6.708/207
Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may...
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The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2011
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
6.98/1929
A year after his father's death, Oskar, a troubled young boy, discovers a mysterious key he believes was left for him by his father and embarks on a s...
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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
2015
Lila & Eve
6.061/230
Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own h...
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Lila & Eve
2016
Suicide Squad
5.912/20630
From DC Comics comes the Suicide Squad, an antihero team of incarcerated supervillains who act as deniable assets for the United States government, un...
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Suicide Squad
2015
Blackhat
5.484/1960
Nicholas Hathaway, a furloughed convict, and his American and Chinese partners hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hon...
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Blackhat
2012
Won't Back Down
6.064/109
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission t...
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Won't Back Down
2006
The Architect
5.9/33
An architect engages in conflict with an activist who lives in a dangerous complex the architect designed.
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The Architect
2010
It's Kind of a Funny Story
7/2273
A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.
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It's Kind of a Funny Story
2007
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
6.989/91
Police Chief Jesse Stone's relationship with his ex-wife worsens, and he fears he's relapsing into alcoholism. To get his mind off his problems, Jesse...
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Jesse Stone: Sea Change
2016
Fences
6.873/2537
In 1950s Pittsburgh, a frustrated African-American father struggles with the constraints of poverty, racism, and his own inner demons as he tries to r...
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Fences
2011
Touch of Evil
6.8/30
Some of 2011's stand-out film actors appear in "a video gallery of cinematic villainy" for New York Times Magazine.
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Touch of Evil
2001
Kate & Leopold
6.326/1287
When her scientist ex-boyfriend discovers a portal to travel through time -- and brings back a 19th-century nobleman named Leopold to prove it -- a sk...
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Kate & Leopold
2015
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
0/0
Unprecedented access to Wilson’s theatrical archives, rarely seen interviews and new dramatic readings bring to life his seminal 10-play cycle chronic...
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August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
1998
Out of Sight
6.679/1195
Meet Jack Foley, a smooth criminal who bends the law and is determined to make one last heist. Karen Sisco is a federal marshal who chooses all the ri...
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Out of Sight
2002
Antwone Fisher
6.887/454
A sailor prone to violent outbursts is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and r...
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Antwone Fisher
2014
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
6.68/214
Told from the man's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be...
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The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2000
Traffic
7.061/2057
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Poli...
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Traffic
Small Great Things
0/0
The story follows a labor and delivery nurse who cares for newborns at a hospital in Connecticut who’s ordered not touch the baby belonging to a white...
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Small Great Things
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
0/0
Set during the early 1900s in South Dakota, Rachel and Isaac Dupree, an African American couple, raise their family on an isolated ranch in the Badlan...
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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
2005
Syriana
6.422/1299
The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer...
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Syriana
2018
Widows
6.488/2224
A police shootout leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows have nothing in common except a debt lef...
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Widows
2019
Troop Zero
7/270
In rural 1977 Georgia, a misfit girl dreams of life in outer space. When a national competition offers her a chance at her dream, to be recorded on NA...
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Troop Zero
2009
Beyond All Boundaries
6.5/4
A visual, 4-D experience of the battles of World War II featuring stories, archival footage and advanced special effects.
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Beyond All Boundaries
2018
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
5.6/13
Examine the rise and fall of Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein following the scandal in 2017. Learn from exclusive interviews with those who knew...
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Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2006
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
0/0
The Great White Way comes into your living room via this disc of rare performances from some of Broadway's brightest luminaries. Culled from clips fro...
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The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2021
The Suicide Squad
7.525/8206
Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker and a collection of nutty cons at Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X...
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The Suicide Squad
2006
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
6.5/13
In the Lifetime® movie, THE FANTASIA BARRINO STORY: LIFE IS NOT A FAIRYTALE, a single teenage mother overcomes all odds - sexual abuse, poverty and il...
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Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2020
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
6.672/1121
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2021
The Unforgivable
7.447/1749
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
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The Unforgivable
2019
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
6/12
Live performances of classic holiday-themed episodes from Norman Lear's hit shows "All in the Family" and "Good Times."
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Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019
A Touch of Sugar
0/0
A Touch of Sugar dives into the diabetes healthcare epidemic that affects every community in the United States, told through the voices of people unit...
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A Touch of Sugar
2022
The Woman King
7.69/1922
The story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike...
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The Woman King
1998
Grace & Glorie
7/4
When a lonely ex-New Yorker moves into the home of a rural senior to act as a hospice worker, the two initially couldn't seem to be less alike. Howeve...
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Grace & Glorie
Two Butterflies
0/0
Follows two estranged sisters who are torn apart by tragedy and forced to reunite when one sister must be transported to an Alzheimer’s facility.
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Two Butterflies
2019
On Broadway
8.7/3
An all-star cast tells the inside story of the Broadway theater, and how it came back from the brink thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inc...
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On Broadway
2022
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
7.1/13
In this special event, Oprah Winfrey sits down with actor Viola Davis for an interview about her memoir, "Finding Me."
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Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
I Almost Forgot About You
0/0
Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful life—great friends, family, and successful career—aren't enough to keep her from feeling stuck and restless. When she de...
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I Almost Forgot About You
2023
Air
7.4/1722
Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the wo...
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Air
2022
Black Adam
6.946/5946
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam is freed from his ear...
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Black Adam
2023
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
7.166/2152
64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird,...
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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
G20
0/0
After the G20 Summit is overtaken by terrorists, President Taylor Sutton must bring all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family an...
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G20
1998
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
0/0
Film directed by Daniel Nemet-Nejat
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Miss Apprehension and Squirt
2009
Doubt: Stage to Screen
7/1
A look at how the cast and crew brought "Doubt" from the stage to the screen.
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Doubt: Stage to Screen
Operation Othello
0/0
A futuristic adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello set in the world of an elite naval special force's unit.
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Operation Othello
2024
Kung Fu Panda 4
7.106/1545
Po is gearing up to become the spiritual leader of his Valley of Peace, but also needs someone to take his place as Dragon Warrior. As such, he will t...
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Kung Fu Panda 4
2024
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
0/0
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a feature-length documentary film about the making of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Son...
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Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2020
Giving Voice
6.3/21
Every year, thousands of high schoolers enter the August Wilson monologue competition for a chance to perform on Broadway. This film follows these stu...
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Giving Voice
2001
Ocean's Eleven
7.441/11214
Less than 24 hours into his parole, charismatic thief Danny Ocean is already rolling out his next plan: In one night, Danny's hand-picked crew of spec...
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