Viola Davis on screen and stage

Viola Davis speaking at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Suicide Squad", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.
Davis at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International

Viola Davis is an American actress and producer who has appeared in film, television, and on stage.[1][2][3] She received her equity card with her stage debut in 1988 with August Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle play Joe Turner's Come and Gone production of Trinity Repertory Company.[4] After graduating from Juilliard School in 1993, Davis went on to perform several roles on stage in the 1990s,[5][6] earning Theater World Award for her role in Seven Guitars (1996).[7] In the same year, Davis guest-starred in the procedural drama series NYPD Blue,[8] and made her film debut with a brief one-day role alongside Timothy Hutton in The Substance of Fire.[9] In 1998, she appeared in Richard Benjamin's television movie The Pentagon Wars,[10] and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight,[11] before returning to the stage with an Obie Award winning titular performance in Off-Broadway Everybody's Ruby (1999).[12][13]

Davis established herself as a leading actress of Broadway in the 2000s.[14] She starred in her first recurring role in the 2000 medical drama City of Angels,[8] before winning Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as a wife of ex-con in King Hedley II (2001), the ninth play of Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle.[15] She received further acclaim for her role as a black seamstress in Intimate Apparel (2004) that won her the Drama Desk Award.[16] Four years later, a supporting role in the period drama Doubt (2008) proved to be a breakthrough for Davis and she received Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nominations for it.[17][18] Davis starred opposite Denzel Washington as a dutiful yet strong minded wife Rose Maxson,[19] in a revival of Wilson's play Fences (2010), that earned her Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.[20] The same year she played Julia Roberts' best friend in romantic-comedy Eat Pray Love.[21]

In 2011, Davis's role in an ensemble drama as a housemaid in The Help earned her Best Actress Oscar nomination, among other accolades.[22] Her performances in school drama Won't Back Down (2012),[23] thriller Prisoners (2013),[24] and biopic Get on Up (2014),[25] added further acclaim to her career. Davis became the first black woman to win Emmy Award for Best Actress,[26] for her role as criminal defense attorney Annalise Keating in television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014).[27] In 2015, she starred and served as an executive producer in vigilante thriller Lila & Eve,[28] and courtroom drama Custody the following year,[29] both films received a mixed reception overall.[30] She appeared as an antagonist Amanda Waller in superhero film Suicide Squad (2016),[31][32] her biggest commercial success till date.[33][34] In the same year, she and Washington reprised their role in the film-adaption of Fences,[35] for which Davis received Best Supporting Actress honors at the BAFTAs, SAG Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Academy Awards.[36] Following her Oscar win, she became the first black actor to win Triple Crown of Acting.[37][38] Davis co-founded the JuVee Productions with her husband Julius Tennon in 2012.[39][40]

  1. ^ "Viola Davis". Biography. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  2. ^ Wallace, Amy (September 12, 2014). "Viola Davis as You've Never Seen Her Before: Leading Lady!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  3. ^ "Viola Davis is one of the most enthralling actresses of this or any generation". August 8, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  4. ^ "Cue & A Revisited: 'How I Got My Equity Card'; Over 100 Actors Respond - Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
  5. ^ "EMMYS 2017: How Tony, Emmy, and Oscar Winner Viola Davis Went From Juilliard Grad to Groundbreaking Actor - Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  6. ^ Blickley, Leigh (February 26, 2016). "Viola Davis On Her Humble Beginnings And Her Fight To Diversify Hollywood". Huffington Post. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  7. ^ "Oscar Countdown! Best Actress Hopeful Viola Davis' Top Five Stage Roles". Broadway.com. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  8. ^ a b "The stunning transformation of Viola Davis". TheList.com. February 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  9. ^ "How I Got My SAG-AFTRA Card". TV Insider. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  10. ^ "CIMSEC's "Pentagon Wars" Screening with Jamie Malanowski". Center for International Maritime Security. August 4, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  11. ^ Merry, Stephanie. "Viola Davis is next in line to Meryl Streep's Hollywood throne". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  12. ^ "Everybody's Ruby, w/ Phylicia Rashad & Viola Davis, Begins at Public Feb. 23-March 28 - Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  13. ^ "Off-Broadway Highest Honor. 1999 Award Winners". Village Voice. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  14. ^ "12 Celebs Who Were Broadway Stars Before TV/Film Careers". Essence.com. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  15. ^ "2001 Tony Award: Featured Actress in a Play, Viola Davis, King Hedley II | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  16. ^ "Viola Davis to star in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Intimate Apparel". New York Theater Guide. October 19, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  17. ^ "From abject poverty to Oscar winner: how Fences star Viola Davis took on Hollywood, and won - in pictures". The Telegraph. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  18. ^ Rosen, Lisa (January 23, 2009). "Viola Davis, supporting actress for 'Doubt'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  19. ^ Dell, Alexa. "The Character of Rose Maxson in August Wilsons". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ^ BWW News Desk. "2010 Tony Awards: Viola Davis Wins 'Best Leading Actress in a Play'". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  21. ^ "Viola Davis circles 'Eat, Pray, Love'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  22. ^ "The 84th Academy Awards (2012) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Archived from the original on October 15, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
  23. ^ Scott, A. O. (September 27, 2012). "'Won't Back Down,' With Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  24. ^ "Prisoner Review". Collider. September 19, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  25. ^ "NAACP Image Awards 2015: The Complete List of Nominations". Entertainment Tonight. December 8, 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  26. ^ "Emmys: Viola Davis Becomes First Black Lead Actress Winner". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  27. ^ "Viola Davis Wins Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series". The New York Times. September 20, 2015. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  28. ^ "'Lila & Eve': Viola Davis, Jennifer Lopez join forces". The Seattle Times. July 16, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  29. ^ "Viola Davis adds executive producer to long list of talents". NY Daily News. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  30. ^ Travers, Ben (March 5, 2017). "'Custody' Review: Viola Davis Can't Save This Wildly Messy Lifetime Movie". IndieWire. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  31. ^ Bahr, Lindsey. "How Viola Davis shaped her powerful 'Suicide Squad' role". Daily Herald. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  32. ^ "Watch Viola Davis Lay Down the Law in the New Suicide Squad Trailer". Time. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  33. ^ Mendelson, Scott. "'Suicide Squad': 4 Reasons Its Box Office Blowout Is Good News". Forbes. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  34. ^ McNary, Dave (August 18, 2016). "Box Office: 'Suicide Squad' Battles to $500 Million Worldwide". Variety. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  35. ^ Anderson, Tre'vell (December 22, 2016). "Viola Davis, queen of all she surveys, on returning to 'Fences' six years later". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  36. ^ "Viola Davis wins Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences". The Independent. February 27, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  37. ^ Zak, Dan. "Only 22 people had ever accomplished this feat. Now, Viola Davis joins the club". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  38. ^ Karen Mizoguchi. "SAG Awards 2017: Viola Davis Becomes First African American Actress to Score 5 Wins". People.com. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  39. ^ Rock, Lucy (September 24, 2017). "'The voice of the voiceless': how Viola Davis and Julius Tennon are changing the face of Hollywood". the Guardian. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  40. ^ Report, Electronic Urban (March 13, 2017). "Viola Davis and Hubby Seek $250,000,000 to Expand JuVee Productions Globally | EURweb". EURweb. Retrieved May 7, 2018.

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