Viola Davis
Known for: Acting
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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Viola Davis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
Series
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Donna Emmett
1999
Series
The Simpsons
Narrator (voice)
1989
Series
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
2009
Series
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Attorney Campbell
2000
Series
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
2015
Series
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self - Guest
2015
Series
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self
2014
Series
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self - Guest
2014
Series
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self - Guest
2014
Series
The Graham Norton Show
Self
2007
Series
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Self
2019
Series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Terry Randolph
2001
Series
The Jennifer Hudson Show
Self
2022
Series
Without a Trace
Audrey Williams
2002
Series
The View
Self - Guest
1997
Series
The View
Self
1997
Series
Hot Ones
Self
2015
Series
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter
1944
Series
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
1944
Series
The Practice
Aisha Crenshaw
1997
Series
How to Get Away with Murder
Annalise Keating
2014
Series
60 Minutes
Self
1968
Series
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self
2003
Series
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self - Guest
2003
Series
NYPD Blue
Woman
1993
Series
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
1956
Series
Third Watch
Margo Rodriguez
1999
Series
Scandal
Annalise Keating
2012
Series
Peacemaker
Amanda Waller (uncredited)
2022
Series
CBS News Sunday Morning
Self
1979
Series
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self
2003
Series
Judging Amy
Celeste
1999
Series
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Self - Guest
1992
Series
Brothers and Sisters
Ellen Snyder
2006
Series
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
Self
2014
Series
The Division
Dr. Georgia Davis
2001
Series
The Guardian
Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
2001
Film
Kung Fu Panda 4
The Chameleon (voice)
2024
Series
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self
2015
Series
Providence
Dr. Eleanor Weiss
1999
Series
Sofia the First
Helen Hanshaw (voice)
2013
Film
The Suicide Squad
Amanda Waller
2021
Series
The Oscars
Self
1953
Film
Black Adam
Amanda Waller (uncredited)
2022
Series
Hack
Stevie Morgan
2002
Film
Ocean's Eleven
Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
2001
Film
Prisoners
Nancy Birch
2013
Film
The Help
Aibileen Clark
2011
Series
Creature Commandos
Amanda Waller (voice)
2024
Series
Hot Ones Versus
Self
2024
Series
United States of Tara
2009
Film
Suicide Squad
Amanda Waller
2016
Series
Live from E!
Self
2002
Series
Celebrity IOU
Self
2020
Series
C ce soir, le débat
Self - Guest
2021
Film
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Dr. Volumnia Gaul
2023
Series
Number One on the Call Sheet
Self
2025
Film
Eat Pray Love
Delia Shiraz
2010
Film
Law Abiding Citizen
Mayor April Henry
2009
Film
Air
Deloris Jordan
2023
Film
G20
President Danielle Sutton
2025
Series
Threshold
2005
Film
The Woman King
Nanisca
2022
Film
Knight and Day
CIA Director Isabel George
2010
Film
Trust
Gail Friedman
2010
Series
The First Lady
Michelle Obama
2022
Film
Fences
Rose Maxson
2016
Series
Dear...
Self
2020
Series
The Andromeda Strain
Dr. Charlene Barton
2008
Film
The Unforgivable
Liz Ingram
2021
Film
Disturbia
Detective Parker
2007
Film
Blackhat
Carol Barrett
2015
Film
Beautiful Creatures
Amma Treadeau
2013
Film
Traffic
Social Worker
2000
Film
Doubt
Mrs. Miller
2008
Series
City of Angels
Lynnette Peeler
2000
Series
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
Self
1995
Film
State of Play
Dr. Judith Franklin
2009
Film
Ender's Game
Major Gwen Anderson
2013
Series
Century City
Hannah Crane
2004
Film
Widows
Veronica Rawlings
2018
Series
Hollywood Black
Self (archive footage)
2024
Series
Traveler
Agent Jan Marlow
2007
Series
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Rosemary Allbright
1951
Film
Kate & Leopold
Policewoman
2001
Film
Out of Sight
Moselle
1998
Film
Syriana
CIA Chairwoman
2005
Film
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Grandma
2005
Film
World Trade Center
Mother in Hospital
2006
Film
Solaris
Gordon
2002
Film
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Abby Black
2011
Film
Far from Heaven
Sybil
2002
Film
Madea Goes to Jail
Ellen
2009
Film
Get On Up
Susie Brown
2014
Film
Antwone Fisher
Eva May
2002
Film
Stone Cold
Molly Crane
2005
Film
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Dr. Eden Minerva
2010
Film
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
Self (archive footage)
2018
Film
Troop Zero
Miss Rayleen
2019
Film
Nights in Rodanthe
Jean
2008
Film
Lila & Eve
Lila Walcott
2015
Film
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
Professor Lillian Friedman
2014
Film
Won't Back Down
Nona Alberts
2012
Film
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Ma Rainey
2020
Film
Love, Marilyn
Self
2013
Film
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
Molly Crane
2007
Film
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
Officer Molly Crane
2006
Film
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
Florida Evans
2019
Film
Children of Blood and Bone
Mama Agba
2027
Film
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
Professor Lillian Friedman
2014
Film
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
Molly Crane
2006
Film
Beyond All Boundaries
Hortense Johnson
2009
Film
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
Professor Lillian Friedman
2014
Film
Custody
Martha Schulman
2016
Film
The Pentagon Wars
Sgt. Fanning
1998
Film
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
2006
Film
Grace & Glorie
Rosemary Allbright
1998
Film
On Broadway
Self (archive footage)
2019
Film
The Architect
Tonya Neely
2006
Film
Giving Voice
Self
2020
Film
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
2024
Film
The Substance of Fire
Nurse
1996
Film
Doubt: Stage to Screen
Self
2009
Film
The Shrink Is In
Robin
2001
Series
The Grammys
Self
1959
Film
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
Narrator (voice)
2026
Film
Amy & Isabelle
Dottie
2001
Film
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
Diane Barrino
2006
Film
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
Self
2015
Film
Operation Othello
Narrator
2019
Ally Clark
Ally Clark
Small Great Things
I Almost Forgot About You
Dr. Georgia Young
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Rachel Dupree
Film
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
Narration
2025
House of Games
Two Butterflies
Film
A Touch of Sugar
Narrator
2019
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
Sharon Hughes
1998
Film
Food 2050
Self - Narrator (voice)
2022
Film
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
Self
2022