Viola Davis

61 years old St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA

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 grappling with trauma and loss in King Hedley II (2001), followed by her second win for Best Actress in a Play playing Rose Maxson, a working class mother in Fences (2010).

She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for reprising her role in the 2016 film adaptation of Fences. She was Oscar-nominated for playing a complex mother in Doubt (2008), a 1960s housemaid in The Help (2011) and Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). On television, she became the first black actress to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as lawyer Annalise Keating in the ABC legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020). Davis joined the DCEU playing Amanda Waller starting with Suicide Squad (2016). She has also starred in the crime drama Widows(2018), and historical action film The Woman King (2022).

Davis and her husband are founders of the production company JuVee Productions, and she is also widely recognized for her advocacy and support for human rights and women of color. She became a L'Oréal Paris ambassador in 2019. The audiobook narration of her 2022 memoir Finding Me won her the Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording.

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Recent movies

# Name Character Rating
1 G20 (2025) President Danielle Sutton 6.1
2 Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) The Chameleon (voice) 6.3
3 The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
Most waited movies 2023 and after 		Dr. Volumnia Gaul 6.4
4 Air (2023) Deloris Jordan 7.1
5 Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event (2022) Self 6
6 Black Adam (2022)
Most waited movies 2022 		Amanda Waller (uncredited) 6.2
7 The Woman King (2022) Nanisca 7.2
8 The Unforgivable (2021) Liz Ingram 7
9 The Suicide Squad (2021)
Top movies in 2021 		Amanda Waller 7.4
10 Giving Voice (2020) Self 3
11 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) Ma Rainey 6.6
12 Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times" (2019) Florida Evans 7
13 Troop Zero (2019) Miss Rayleen 8
14 Widows (2018) Veronica Rawlings 7
15 Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal (2018) Self (archive footage) -
16 Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2017) Self (uncredited) 8
17 Custody (2016) Martha Schulman 6.5
18 Fences (2016)
Oscars winners 2017 		Rose Maxson 7.2
19 Suicide Squad (2016)
Oscars winners 2017 		Amanda Waller 6.2
20 Blackhat (2015) Carol Barrett 5.3
21 Lila & Eve (2015) Lila Walcott 5.4
22 Get On Up (2014) Susie Brown 7.4
23 The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014) Professor Lillian Friedman 6.6
24 The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2014) Professor Lillian Friedman 6
25 The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him (2014) Professor Lillian Friedman 4.6
26 Prisoners (2013)
Oscars 2014 		Nancy Birch 7.9
27 Beautiful Creatures (2013) Amma Treadeau 6.4
28 Ender's Game (2013) Major Gwen Anderson 7
29 Love, Marilyn (2013) Self 9
30 Won't Back Down (2012) Nona Alberts 6
31 The Help (2011)
Oscars 2012 		Aibileen Clark 8.3
32 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
Oscars 2012 		Abby Black 7.2
33 Dark Girls (2011) Self -
34 Touch of Evil (2011) The Vengeful Caretaker -
35 Trust (2010) Gail Friedman 6
36 It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010) Dr. Eden Minerva 7.4
37 Eat Pray Love (2010) Delia Shiraz 6
38 Knight and Day (2010) CIA Director Isabel George 6.3
39 Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Mayor April Henry 7.7
40 State of Play (2009) Dr. Judith Franklin 7.3
41 Madea Goes to Jail (2009) Ellen 7.2
42 Nights in Rodanthe (2008) Jean 6.3
43 Doubt (2008)
Oscars 2009 		Mrs. Miller 7.1
44 Disturbia (2007) Detective Parker 6.9
45 Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007) Molly Crane 7.5
46 The Architect (2006) Tonya Neely -
47 Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story (2006) Diane Barrino -
48 Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006) Molly Crane 7.5
49 World Trade Center (2006) Mother in Hospital 5.7
50 Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006) Officer Molly Crane 7.5
51 Syriana (2005)
Oscars 2006 		CIA Chairwoman 6.4
52 Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) Grandma 6.1
53 Stone Cold (2005) Molly Crane 6.3
54 Solaris (2002) Gordon 6.4
55 Far from Heaven (2002)
Oscars 2003 		Sybil 7
56 Antwone Fisher (2002) Eva May 6.7
57 Kate & Leopold (2001)
Oscars 2002 		Policewoman 6.2
58 Amy & Isabelle (2001) Dottie -
59 The Shrink Is In (2001) Robin -
60 Ocean's Eleven (2001) Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited) 7.7
61 Traffic (2000)
Oscars 2001 		Social Worker 6.9
62 The Pentagon Wars (1998) Sgt. Fanning 8
63 Out of Sight (1998)
Oscars 1999 		Moselle 7