Acting · St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA · Born August 11, 1965
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.
MovieChildren of Blood and Bone
2027
as Mama Agba
MovieThe Hunger Games Series
2026
as Volumnia Gaul
MovieW.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
2026
as Narrator (voice)
MovieG20
2025
as President Danielle Sutton
TVNumber One on the Call Sheet
2025
as Self
TVGood Hang with Amy Poehler
2025
MovieThe Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
2025
as Narration
TVCreature Commandos
2024
as Amanda Waller (voice)
TVHollywood Black
2024
as Self (archive footage)
MovieKung Fu Panda 4
2024
as The Chameleon (voice)
MoviePredator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2024
as Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
TVHot Ones Versus
2024
as Self
MovieThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2023
as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
MovieAir
2023
as Deloris Jordan
MovieFood 2050
2022
as Self - Narrator (voice)
MovieBlack Adam
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
MovieThe Woman King
2022
as Nanisca
TVThe Jennifer Hudson Show
2022
as Self
MovieOprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
2022
as Self
TVThe First Lady
2022
as Michelle Obama
TVPeacemaker
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
MovieThe Unforgivable
2021
as Liz Ingram
MovieThe Suicide Squad
2021
as Amanda Waller
TVC ce soir, le débat
2021
as Self - Guest
MovieMa Rainey's Black Bottom
2020
as Ma Rainey
TVDear...
2020
as Self
TVCelebrity IOU
2020
as Self
MovieGiving Voice
2020
as Self
MovieLive in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019
as Florida Evans
MovieOn Broadway
2019
as Self (archive footage)
TVThe Kelly Clarkson Show
2019
as Self
MovieOperation Othello
2019
as Narrator
MovieA Touch of Sugar
2019
as Narrator
MovieTroop Zero
2019
as Miss Rayleen
MovieWidows
2018
as Veronica Rawlings
MovieBeyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018
as Self (archive footage)
MovieBright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
2017
as Self (uncredited)
MovieFences
2016
as Rose Maxson
MovieSuicide Squad
2016
as Amanda Waller
MovieCustody
2016
as Martha Schulman
TVThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self
TVClose Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self
MovieLila & Eve
2015
as Lila Walcott
TVHot Ones
2015
as Self
MovieAugust Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015
as Self
MovieBlackhat
2015
as Carol Barrett
TVVariety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
MovieThe Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
MovieThe Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
TVHow to Get Away with Murder
2014
as Annalise Keating
MovieGet On Up
2014
as Susie Brown
MovieThe Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
TVLate Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self - Guest
TVThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self
MovieEnder's Game
2013
as Major Gwen Anderson
MoviePrisoners
2013
as Nancy Birch
MovieLove, Marilyn
2013
as Self
MovieBeautiful Creatures
2013
as Amma Treadeau
TVSofia the First
2013
as Helen Hanshaw (voice)
MovieWon't Back Down
2012
as Nona Alberts
TVScandal
2012
as Annalise Keating
MovieExtremely Loud & Incredibly Close
2011
as Abby Black
MovieDark Girls
2011
as Self
MovieThe Help
2011
as Aibileen Clark
MovieIt's Kind of a Funny Story
2010
as Dr. Eden Minerva
MovieTrust
2010
as Gail Friedman
MovieEat Pray Love
2010
as Delia Shiraz
MovieKnight and Day
2010
as CIA Director Isabel George
MovieBeyond All Boundaries
2009
as Hortense Johnson
MovieLaw Abiding Citizen
2009
as Mayor April Henry
TVWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
MovieState of Play
2009
as Dr. Judith Franklin
MovieDoubt: Stage to Screen
2009
as Self
MovieMadea Goes to Jail
2009
as Ellen
TVUnited States of Tara
2009
MovieDoubt
2008
as Mrs. Miller
MovieNights in Rodanthe
2008
as Jean
TVThe Andromeda Strain
2008
as Dr. Charlene Barton
MovieJesse Stone: Sea Change
2007
as Molly Crane
TVTraveler
2007
as Agent Jan Marlow
MovieDisturbia
2007
as Detective Parker
TVThe Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
MovieThe Architect
2006
as Tonya Neely
TVBrothers and Sisters
2006
as Ellen Snyder
MovieLife Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2006
as Diane Barrino
MovieWorld Trade Center
2006
as Mother in Hospital
MovieThe Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
MovieJesse Stone: Death in Paradise
2006
as Molly Crane
MovieJesse Stone: Night Passage
2006
as Officer Molly Crane
MovieSyriana
2005
as CIA Chairwoman
MovieGet Rich or Die Tryin'
2005
as Grandma
TVThreshold
2005
MovieStone Cold
2005
as Molly Crane
TVCentury City
2004
as Hannah Crane
TVThe Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
as Self
TVJimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self
MovieAntwone Fisher
2002
as Eva May
MovieSolaris
2002
as Gordon
MovieFar from Heaven
2002
as Sybil
TVHack
2002
as Stevie Morgan
TVWithout a Trace
2002
as Audrey Williams
TVLive from E!
2002
as Self
MovieKate & Leopold
2001
as Policewoman
MovieOcean's Eleven
2001
as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
TVLaw & Order: Criminal Intent
2001
as Terry Randolph
TVThe Guardian
2001
as Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
MovieThe Shrink Is In
2001
as Robin
MovieAmy & Isabelle
2001
as Dottie
TVThe Division
2001
as Dr. Georgia Davis
MovieTraffic
2000
as Social Worker
TVCSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000
as Attorney Campbell
TVCity of Angels
2000
as Lynnette Peeler
TVThird Watch
1999
as Margo Rodriguez
TVLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Donna Emmett
TVJudging Amy
1999
as Celeste
TVProvidence
1999
as Dr. Eleanor Weiss
MovieGrace & Glorie
1998
as Rosemary Allbright
MovieOut of Sight
1998
as Moselle
MovieThe Pentagon Wars
1998
as Sgt. Fanning
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
1998
as Sharon Hughes
TVThe View
1997
as Self - Guest
TVThe Practice
1997
as Aisha Crenshaw
MovieThe Substance of Fire
1996
as Nurse
TVThe Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
1995
as Self
TVNYPD Blue
1993
as Woman
TVThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
as Self - Guest
TVThe Simpsons
1989
as Narrator (voice)
TVCBS News Sunday Morning
1979
as Self
TV60 Minutes
1968
as Self
TVThe Grammys
1959
as Self
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Presenter
TVThe Oscars
1953
as Self
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Rosemary Allbright
TVGolden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Presenter
Two Butterflies
I Almost Forgot About You
as Dr. Georgia Young
Small Great Things
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
as Rachel Dupree
Ally Clark
as Ally Clark
House of Games
TVWaller
as Amanda Waller
