Early life

Davis was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina, at her grandparents’ house on the Singleton Plantation, as were her five siblings. The daughter of Mary Alice (Logan) and Dan Davis, she is the second youngest of six children. Her father was a horse trainer and her mother was a maid, factory worker, and homemaker, as well as a civil rights activist. Her family moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island, with two-month-old Viola and two of her sisters, leaving her older sister and brother with the grandparents. Davis has described herself as having "lived in abject poverty and dysfunction" during her childhood.

Davis partially credits her love of stage acting with her involvement in the arts at her alma mater, Central Falls High School. Davis majored in theater at Rhode Island College, graduating in 1988; in 2002 she received an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from the college. She was involved in the federal TRIO Upward Bound and TRIO Student Support Services programs. While Davis was a teenager, her talent was recognized by Bernard Masterson when she entered the program at the Young People's School for the Performing Arts in West Warwick, Rhode Island while he was the director.

She also attended the Juilliard School for four years, as a member of the Drama Division's Group 22 (1989-1993).

Career

Viola Davis received her Screen Actors Guild card in 1996 for doing one day of work as a nurse who passes a vial of blood to Timothy Hutton in the film The Substance of Fire. She was paid $528.

In 2001, she won the Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of Tonya in King Hedley II, a "35-year-old mother fighting eloquently for the right to abort a pregnancy." She has also won another Drama Desk Award for her work in a 2004 off-Broadway production of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage.

Davis appeared in numerous films, including three films directed by Steven Soderbergh - Out of Sight, Solaris and Traffic, as well as Syriana, which Soderbergh produced. Viola was also the uncredited voice of the parole board interrogator who questions Danny Ocean (George Clooney) in the first scene in Ocean's Eleven. She also gave brief performances in the films Kate & Leopold and Antwone Fisher. Her television work includes a recurring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, starring roles in two short-lived series, Traveler and Century City, and a special guest appearance in a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode entitled "Badge".

In 2008, Davis played Mrs. Miller in the film adaptation to the Broadway play Doubt, with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Though Davis had only one scene in the film, she was nominated for several awards for her performance, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

On June 30, 2009, Davis was inducted into The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. On June 13, 2010, Davis won her second Tony Award for her role as Rose Maxson in a revival of August Wilson's Fences. She is the second African-American woman to win the award, after Phylicia Rashad.

Davis played the role of Dr. Minerva in It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), a coming-of-age film written and directed by Anna Boden with Ryan Fleck, adapted from the 2006 novel by Ned Vizzini. In August 2011, Davis played the role of Aibileen Clark in the screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help, directed by Tate Taylor. For her performance, Davis garnered great critical acclaim, and eventually received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as her second Academy Award nomination, which she ultimately lost to Meryl Streep. She also received Golden Globe Award and BAFTA nominations for the same performance.

In 2012, Time magazine listed Davis as one of the most influential people in the world. Also in 2012, Glamour magazine named Davis Glamour's Film Actress of the year. On June 12, 2012, Davis was presented with the Women in Film's Crystal Award by her friend and Oscar rival that year Meryl Streep. On June 25, 2012, The Walk of Fame Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that Davis was part of the new group of entertainment professionals who have been selected to receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.

Davis reunited with The Help director Tate Taylor in Get on Up, a biopic of James Brown, playing Brown's mother. Her daughter Genesis also appeared in the movie.

In February 2014, Davis was cast in Peter Nowalk's pilot How to Get Away with Murder (executive produced by Shonda Rhimes for her ShondaLand production company) as the lead character. It began as a series in September 2014. On September 20, 2015, she became the first African-American to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Davis appeared in Blackhat (2015), a Michael Mann-directed thriller film starring Chris Hemsworth. In December 2014, it was announced that Viola Davis was cast as Amanda Waller in the 2016 DC Comics movie Suicide Squad. In March 2015, she began filming Custody, in addition to serving as one of the executive producers.

Personal life

Davis married actor Julius Tennon in June 2003. They have a daughter, Genesis, whom they adopted as a newborn in October 2011. Davis is stepmother to Tennon's two sons from previous relationships.

Davis has a younger sister who was a child victim of sexual assault.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Substance of Fire, TheThe Substance of Fire	Nurse
1998	Out of Sight	Moselle Miller
2000	Traffic	Social Worker
2001	Shrink Is In, TheThe Shrink Is In	Robin
	Kate & Leopold	Policewoman
2002	Far from Heaven	Sybil
	Antwone Fisher	Eva May Fisher
	Solaris	Dr. Gordon
2005	Get Rich or Die Tryin'	Grandma
	Syriana	CIA Chairwoman	Uncredited
2006	Architect, TheThe Architect	Tonya Neely
	World Trade Center	Mother in Hospital
2007	Disturbia	Detective Parker
2008	Nights in Rodanthe	Jean
	Doubt	Mrs. Miller	Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
2009	Madea Goes to Jail	Ellen St. Matthews
	State of Play	Dr. Judith Franklin
	Law Abiding Citizen	Mayor April Henry
2010	Knight and Day	Director Isabel George
	Eat Pray Love	Delia Shiraz
	It's Kind of a Funny Story	Dr. Minerva
	Trust	Gail Friedman
2011	The Help	Aibileen Clark	Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress
	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	Abby Black
2012	Won't Back Down	Nona Alberts
2013	Beautiful Creatures	Amarie "Amma" Treadeau
	Ender's Game	Major Anderson
	The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby	Professor Lillian Friedman
	Prisoners	Nancy Birch
2014	Get On Up	Susie Brown
2015	Blackhat	FBI Agent Carol Barrett
	Lila & Eve	Lila Walcott
2016	Custody	Judge Martha Sherman	Post-production Also executive producer
	Suicide Squad	Amanda Waller	Post-production
	Fences	Rose Maxson	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	NYPD Blue	Woman	Episode: "Moby Greg"
1996	New York Undercover	Mrs. Stapleton	Episode: "Smack is Back"
1998	Pentagon Wars, TheThe Pentagon Wars	Platoon Sgt. Fanning
1998	Grace & Glorie	Rosemary Allbright
2000	Judging Amy	Celeste	Episode: "Blast from the Past"
2000	City of Angels	Nurse Lynnette Peeler	19 episodes
2001	Amy & Isabelle	Dottie
2001	Providence	Dr. Eleanor Weiss	Episode: "You Can Count On Me"
2001	Guardian, TheThe Guardian	Attorney Suzanna Clemons	Episode: "The Men from the Boys"
2001	Third Watch	Margo Rodriguez	Episode: "Act Brave"
2002	Father Lefty
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Terry Randolph	Episode: "Badge"
2002	Division, TheThe Division	Dr. Georgia Davis	Episode: "Remembrance"
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Attorney Campbell	Episode: "The Execution of Catherine Willows"
2003	Hack	Stevie Morgan	Episode: "Third Strike"
2003	Practice, TheThe Practice	Aisha Crenshaw	Episode: "We the People"
2004	Century City	Hannah Crane	9 episodes
2005	Jesse Stone: Stone Cold	Molly Crane
2005	Threshold	Victoria Rossi	Episode: "Shock"
2006	Jesse Stone: Night Passage	Molly Crane
2006	Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise	Molly Crane
2006	Without a Trace	Audrey Williams	Episode: "White Balance"
2006	Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story	Diane Barrino	TV movie
2007	Fort Pit
2007	Jesse Stone: Sea Change	Molly Crane
2007	Traveler	Agent Jan Marlow	8 episodes
2008	Brothers & Sisters	Ellen Snyder	Episode: "Double Negative"
2008	Andromeda Strain, TheThe Andromeda Strain	Dr. Charlene Barton
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-present	How to Get Away with Murder	Professor Annalise Keating	Lead role

Theatre credits

Year	Title	Role	Venue
1992	As You Like It	Denise	Off-Broadway
1996	Seven Guitars	Vera	Broadway
1997	God's Heart	Eleanor	Off-Broadway
1998	Pericles	2nd Fisherman/Lychorida/Bawd
1999	Everybody's Ruby	Ruby McCollum
	The Vagina Monologues	Performer (Replacement)
2001	King Hedley II	Tonya	Broadway
2004	Intimate Apparel	Esther	Off-Broadway
2010	Fences	Rose	Broadway

Charities

Viola Davis supports the following charitable cause: Hunger.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]