# Viola Davis on screen and stage

Viola Davis is an American actress and producer who has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She received her equity card with her stage debut in 1988 with August Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle play Joe Turner's Come and Gone production of Trinity Repertory Company. After graduating from Juilliard School in 1993, Davis went on to perform several roles on stage in the 1990s, earning Theater World Award for her role in Seven Guitars (1996). In the same year, Davis guest-starred in the procedural drama series NYPD Blue, and made her film debut with a brief one-day role alongside Timothy Hutton in The Substance of Fire. In 1998, she appeared in Richard Benjamin's television movie The Pentagon Wars, and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, before returning to the stage with an Obie Award winning titular performance in Off-Broadway Everybody's Ruby (1999).
Davis established herself as a leading actress of Broadway in the 2000s. She starred in her first recurring role in the 2000 medical drama City of Angels, before winning Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as a wife of ex-con in King Hedley II (2001), the ninth play of Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle. She received further acclaim for her role as a black seamstress in Intimate Apparel (2004) that won her the Drama Desk Award. Four years later, a supporting role in the period drama Doubt (2008) proved to be a breakthrough for Davis and she received Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nominations for it. Davis starred opposite Denzel Washington as a dutiful yet strong minded wife Rose Maxson, in a revival of Wilson's play Fences (2010), that earned her Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The same year she played Julia Roberts' best friend in romantic-comedy Eat Pray Love.
In 2011, Davis's role in an ensemble drama as a housemaid in The Help earned her Best Actress Oscar nomination, among other accolades. Her performances in school drama Won't Back Down (2012), thriller Prisoners (2013), and biopic Get on Up (2014), added further acclaim to her career. Davis became the first black woman to win Emmy Award for Best Actress, for her role as criminal defense attorney Annalise Keating in television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014). In 2015, she starred and served as an executive producer in vigilante thriller Lila & Eve, and courtroom drama Custody the following year, both films received a mixed reception overall. She appeared as an antagonist Amanda Waller in superhero film Suicide Squad (2016), her biggest commercial success till date. In the same year, she and Washington reprised their role in the film-adaption of Fences, for which Davis received Best Supporting Actress honors at the BAFTAs, SAG Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Academy Awards. Following her Oscar win, she became the first black actor to win Triple Crown of Acting. Davis co-founded the JuVee Productions with her husband Julius Tennon in 2012.

## Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | The Substance of Fire | Nurse | |
| 1998 | Out of Sight | Moselle Miller | |
| 1998 | Miss Apprehension and Squirt | Sharon Hughes | |
| 2000 | Traffic | Social Worker | |
| 2001 | The Shrink Is In | Robin | |
| 2001 | Ocean's Eleven | Parole board interrogator | Uncredited |
| 2001 | Kate & Leopold | Policewoman | |
| 2002 | Far from Heaven | Sybil | |
| 2002 | Antwone Fisher | Eva May Fisher | |
| 2002 | Solaris | Dr. Gordon | |
| 2005 | Get Rich or Die Tryin' | Grandma | |
| 2005 | Syriana | CIA Chairwoman | Uncredited |
| 2006 | The Architect | Tonya Neely | |
| 2006 | World Trade Center | Mother in Hospital | |
| 2007 | Disturbia | Detective Parker | |
| 2008 | Nights in Rodanthe | Jean | |
| 2008 | Doubt | Mrs. Miller | |
| 2009 | Madea Goes to Jail | Ellen St. Matthews | |
| 2009 | State of Play | Dr. Judith Franklin | |
| 2009 | Law Abiding Citizen | Mayor April Henry | |
| 2009 | Beyond All Boundaries | Hortense Johnson / Arsenal Worker | Voice; Short film |
| 2010 | Knight and Day | Director Isabel George | |
| 2010 | Eat Pray Love | Delia Shiraz | |
| 2010 | It's Kind of a Funny Story | Dr. Minerva | |
| 2010 | Trust | Gail Friedman | |
| 2010 | The Unforgiving Minute | Narrator | Short film |
| 2011 | The Help | Aibileen Clark | |
| 2011 | Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close | Abby Black | |
| 2012 | Won't Back Down | Nona Alberts | |
| 2013 | Beautiful Creatures | Amarie "Amma" Treadeau | |
| 2013 | Ender's Game | Major Anderson | |
| 2013 | The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby | Professor Lillian Friedman | |
| 2013 | Prisoners | Nancy Birch | |
| 2014 | Get On Up | Susie Brown | |
| 2015 | Blackhat | FBI Agent Carol Barrett | |
| 2015 | Lila & Eve | Lila Walcott | Also executive producer |
| 2016 | Custody | Judge Martha Sherman | Also executive producer |
| 2016 | Suicide Squad | Amanda Waller | |
| 2016 | Fences | Rose Maxson | |
| 2018 | Widows | Veronica Rawlings | |
| 2019 | Troop Zero | Rayleen | |
| 2020 | Giving Voice | Herself | Documentary; also executive producer |
| 2020 | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Ma Rainey | |
| 2021 | The Suicide Squad | Amanda Waller | |
| 2021 | The Unforgivable | Liz Ingram | |
| 2022 | The Woman King | Nanisca | Also producer |
| 2022 | Black Adam | Amanda Waller | Uncredited |
| 2023 | Air | Deloris Jordan | |
| 2023 | The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | Dr. Volumnia Gaul | |
| 2024 | Kung Fu Panda 4 | The Chameleon | Voice |
| 2025 | G20 † | President Danielle Sutton | Post-production, also producer |
| 2027 | Children of Blood and Bone † | Mama Agba | Filming |
Key :
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |

## Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | NYPD Blue | Woman | Episode: "Moby Greg" |
| 1996 | New York Undercover | Rebecca Stapleton | Episode: "Smack is Back" |
| 1998 | The Pentagon Wars | Sgt. First Class Fanning | Television film |
| 1998 | Grace and Glorie | Rosemary Allbright | Television film |
| 2000 | Judging Amy | Celeste | Episode: "Blast from the Past" |
| 2000 | City of Angels | Nurse Lynnette Peeler | 24 episodes |
| 2001 | Amy & Isabelle | Dottie | Television film |
| 2001 | Providence | Dr. Eleanor Weiss | Episode: "You Can Count On Me" |
| 2001 | The Guardian | Attorney Suzanna Clemons | Episode: "The Men from the Boys" |
| 2001 | Third Watch | Margo Rodriguez | Episode: "Act Brave" |
| 2002 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Terry Randolph | Episode: "Badge" |
| 2002 | The Division | Dr. Georgia Davis | Episode: "Remembrance" |
| 2002 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Attorney Campbell | Episode: "The Execution of Catherine Willows" |
| 2002 | Father Lefty | — | Unaired Pilot |
| 2003 | Hack | Stevie Morgan | Episode: "Third Strike" |
| 2003 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Donna Emmett | Episode: "Mercy" |
| 2003 | The Practice | Aisha Crenshaw | Episode: "We the People" |
| 2004 | Century City | Hannah Crane | 9 episodes |
| 2005 | Jesse Stone: Stone Cold | Molly Crane | Television film |
| 2005 | Threshold | Victoria Rossi | Episode: "Shock" |
| 2006 | Jesse Stone: Night Passage | Molly Crane | Television film |
| 2006 | Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise | Molly Crane | Television film |
| 2006 | Without a Trace | Audrey Williams | Episode: "White Balance" |
| 2006 | Life Is Not a Fairytale | Diane Barrino | Television film |
| 2007 | Jesse Stone: Sea Change | Molly Crane | Television film |
| 2007 | Traveler | Agent Jan Marlow | 8 episodes |
| 2007 | Fort Pit | — | Television film |
| 2008 | Brothers & Sisters | Ellen Snyder | Episode: "Double Negative" |
| 2008 | The Andromeda Strain | Dr. Charlene Barton | 3 episodes |
| 2003–2008 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Donna Emmett | 7 episodes |
| 2009 | United States of Tara | Lynda P. Frazier | 6 episodes |
| 2013 | Sofia the First | Helen Hanshaw | Voice; Episode: "The Buttercups" |
| 2014–2020 | How to Get Away with Murder | Annalise Keating | 90 episodes; Lead role, also producer (60 episodes) |
| 2018 | Scandal | Annalise Keating | Episode: "Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself" |
| 2019 | Live in Front of a Studio Audience | Florida Evans | Episode: "All in the Family and Good Times" |
| 2020 | Celebrity IOU | Herself | Episode: "Viola Davis Delivers a Dream Home" |
| 2022 | Peacemaker | Amanda Waller | 2 episodes (uncredited) |
| 2022 | The First Lady | Michelle Obama | 10 episodes; also executive producer |
| 2024–present | Creature Commandos | Amanda Waller | Voice; 3 episodes |
Key :
| † | Denotes series that have not yet been released |

### Theatre

| Year | Production | Role | Theater | Ref. |
| 1988 | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Mattie | Trinity Repertory Company | |
| 1992 | As You Like It | Denise | Delacorte Theater | |
| 1996 | Seven Guitars | Vera | Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway | [126] [127] |
| 1997 | God's Heart | Eleanor | Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater | |
| 1998 | Pericles | 2nd Fisherman / Lychorida / Bawd | Joseph Papp Public Theater, Martinson Hall | |
| 1999 | A Raisin in the Sun | Ruth Younger | Williamstown Theatre Festival | |
| 1999 | Everybody's Ruby | Ruby McCollum | Joseph Papp Public Theater / Anspacher Theater | |
| 1999 | The Vagina Monologues | Performer (Replacement) | Westside Theatre (Downstairs) | |
| 2001 | King Hedley II | Tonya | Virginia Theatre, Broadway | |
| 2004 | Intimate Apparel | Esther | Roundabout Theatre | |
| 2010 | Fences | Rose Maxson | Cort Theatre, Broadway | |

## Producer

| Year | Production | Notes |
| 2014 | Camp Logan | Theater play |
| 2015 | The Brink | Short |
| 2017 | The Night Shift | Short |
| 2017 | Emerging Artist Series | TV series |
| 2017 | American Koko | 12 episodes, also narrator |
| 2017 | EIF Presents: XQ Super School Live | Television special |
| 2018 | The Last Defense | TV series documentary |
| 2018 | Two Sides | Four part documentary series |
| 2023 | Silver Dollar Road | Documentary film |