“You want to be able to really tackle a character and make it a fully-dimensional human being who is complicated, funny, and all the things that a person could be. If you can achieve that, you feel great. You so rarely get to do that as an actress in general, but as a black actress, it's almost never.”

American actress and film producer

Viola Davis is an American actress and film producer. She is known for work on stage and screen, and for earning both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT honors. Time named her among the world’s 100 most influential people in 2012 and 2017. Her reputation rests on a body of performances that has drawn major recognition across film, television, and theatre. In 2020, The New York Times placed her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century. In 2025, she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globe awards.