Viola Davis
Acting
Born: Aug 11, 1965
From: St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA
Credits: 30 titles
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 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 …
Filmography
| Title | Character | Year | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event | Self | 2022 | 7.1 |
| Operation Othello | Narrator | 2019 | — |
| On Broadway | Self (archive footage) | 2019 | 8.7 |
| Ender's Game | Major Gwen Anderson | 2013 | 6.588 |
| Love, Marilyn | Self | 2013 | 6.577 |
| Beautiful Creatures | Amma Treadeau | 2013 | 6.032 |
| Prisoners | Nancy Birch | 2013 | 8.103 |
| Won't Back Down | Nona Alberts | 2012 | 6.1 |
| The Help | Aibileen Clark | 2011 | 8.198 |
| Knight and Day | CIA Director Isabel George | 2010 | 6.229 |
| Eat Pray Love | Delia Shiraz | 2010 | 6.242 |
| Trust | Gail Friedman | 2010 | 6.548 |
| Doubt: Stage to Screen | Self | 2009 | 6.5 |
| Law Abiding Citizen | Mayor April Henry | 2009 | 7.388 |
| Madea Goes to Jail | Ellen | 2009 | 6.5 |
| State of Play | Dr. Judith Franklin | 2009 | 6.806 |
| Nights in Rodanthe | Jean | 2008 | 6.248 |
| Doubt | Mrs. Miller | 2008 | 7.201 |
| Disturbia | Detective Parker | 2007 | 6.684 |
| World Trade Center | Mother in Hospital | 2006 | 6.133 |
| Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise | Molly Crane | 2006 | 6.9 |
| Jesse Stone: Night Passage | Officer Molly Crane | 2006 | 6.923 |
| Get Rich or Die Tryin' | Grandma | 2005 | 6.8 |
| Stone Cold | Molly Crane | 2005 | 6.831 |
| Solaris | Gordon | 2002 | 5.947 |
| Far from Heaven | Sybil | 2002 | 7.054 |
| The Shrink Is In | Robin | 2001 | 4.897 |
| Amy & Isabelle | Dottie | 2001 | 5.6 |
| The Pentagon Wars | Sgt. Fanning | 1998 | 6.861 |
| Two Butterflies | — | ||
| Known for | Acting |
| Credits | 30 |
| Born | 1965 |
| From | St. Matthews, South … |