Viola Davis

Acting · Born 1965-08-11 in St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA

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…

Filmography

• Doubt: Stage to Screen as Self
• Solaris as Gordon
• Get Rich or Die Tryin' as Grandma
• World Trade Center as Mother in Hospital
• Far from Heaven as Sybil
• Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise as Molly Crane
• Law Abiding Citizen as Mayor April Henry
• Stone Cold as Molly Crane
• Jesse Stone: Night Passage as Officer Molly Crane
• Disturbia as Detective Parker