Viola Davis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viola Davis at Comic-Con 2016

Viola Davis (born August 11, 1965 in Saint Matthews , South Carolina ) is an American actress . In 2015, she became the first African American actress to win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the crime series How to Get Away with Murder . At the 2017 Academy Awards , she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences .

life and career

Viola Davis graduated from Juilliard School and studied theater arts from Rhode Island College . She made her debut alongside Tony Goldwyn , Timothy Hutton and Sarah Jessica Parker in a minor supporting role in the 1996 drama The Substance of Fire . In the television comedy The Pentagon Wars (1998) she played one of the larger roles.

In 2001 Davis received the Tony Award for her role in the play King Hedley II . Her role in the science fiction film Solaris (2002) by Steven Soderbergh , in which she starred alongside George Clooney and Natascha McElhone in a larger role, earned her a 2003 Black Reel Award nomination . For her role in the drama Antwone Fisher (2002) she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award in 2003 . In 2005 she won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for the role in the play Intimate Apparel . In the film drama The Architect (2006) she took on one of the bigger roles alongside Anthony LaPaglia , Isabella Rossellini and Hayden Panettiere . For the role of a desperate mother in John Patrick Shanley's theater film Faith Question (2008), whose son was allegedly abused by a Catholic priest, she received the National Board of Review award and nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe . In the film Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz , she played the role of a CIA department head. Only a few months later, the successful film Eat Pray Love premiered, in which she appeared on the side of Julia Roberts , Javier Bardem and James Franco .

Davis and husband Julius Tennon at the 2009 Academy Awards

In 2011, Davis starred in the multi-Oscar-nominated racism drama The Help . For the part of the black housekeeper Aibileen Clark at the time of racial segregation, it was 1960 for the Oscar in 2012 as best actress nomination, but had to Meryl Streep beaten with which Davis already in the film Doubt played together. A short time later, she played the important supporting role of Abby Black in the Oscar-nominated drama Extreme Loud & Incredibly Close . In February 2012 she got a leading role in the drama Beautiful Creatures - An immortal love , which is based on the book series of the same name by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. In 2015, Davis won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series as the first African American actress for her portrayal of ambitious lawyer and defense attorney Annalize Keating in Shonda Rhimes ' How to Get Away with Murder crime series . In her acceptance speech, she criticized the role selection for African American actresses.

Davis has been married to actor Julius Tennon since 2003 . In 2011 the two adopted a girl. She is also the stepmother of Tennon's two sons from previous relationships.

Filmography (selection)

Awards and nominations

Oscar

Primetime Emmy Award

  • 2015 : Award for “Best Actress in a Drama Series” for How to Get Away with Murder
  • 2016 : Nomination for “Best Actress in a Drama Series” for How to Get Away with Murder
  • 2017 : Nomination for “Best Actress in a Drama Series” for How to Get Away with Murder
  • 2018 : Nomination for “Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series” for Scandal

Golden Globe Award

British Academy Film Award

Screen Actors Guild Award

Tony Award

Web links

Commons : Viola Davis  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c biography in IMDb , accessed on December 11, 2007
  2. ↑ Most important TV award in the world: Finally an Emmy for Jon Hamm on Spiegel Online , September 21, 2015 (accessed on September 22, 2015).
  3. ↑ Aili Nahas & Elizabeth Raftery: Viola Davis Adopts a Daughter, Genesis . In: people.com . October 18, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Davis, viola
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint Matthews , South Carolina, United States