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

• Far from Heaven as Sybil
• Law Abiding Citizen as Mayor April Henry
• Doubt as Mrs. Miller
• The Help as Aibileen Clark
• Prisoners as Nancy Birch
• Air as Deloris Jordan
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as Abby Black
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
• Kung Fu Panda 4 as The Chameleon (voice)
• It's Kind of a Funny Story as Dr. Eden Minerva

TV

• Third Watch as Margo Rodriguez
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Attorney Campbell
• The Practice as Aisha Crenshaw
• How to Get Away with Murder as Annalise Keating
• Peacemaker as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Donna Emmett
• Creature Commandos as Amanda Waller (voice)
• The Simpsons as Narrator (voice)
• Threshold
• The Division as Dr. Georgia Davis