Born August 11, 1965, in Saint Matthews, South Carolina, and raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island Viola is a decorated American Actress who grew up from practically nothing to recently becoming one of the few winners of an EGOT Award (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony)!
Graduating from Juilliard School in 1994 to now…she has had some success. In 1996 Davis made her Broadway debut and first appearance in the “famous world” in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, in which she played the long-suffering paramour of a musician recently released from prison, a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination, inevitably not winning. What did win her a Tony was King Hedley II for her portrayal of a married woman arguing for her right to an abortion. Davis’s performance as a reserved maid at the dawn of the American civil rights era in the film The Help (2011) earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nods for best actress, my personal favorite movie of hers! Her Emmy award was for her remarkable performance on How to Get Away with Murder from 2014-2020 winning it in 2015. Davis reteamed with Denzel Washington for the 2016 film adaptation of Fences, which he also directed. For her work in the drama, Davis won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Consequently, she became the first Black woman to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony for acting.
Davis’s memoir, Finding Me, was published in 2022. The following year she won a Grammy for the audio version of the book. With that award, she became the third Black woman to win an EGOT. If you didn’t already idolize her you damn should now, she is an icon in every way shape and form! She inspires every girl and boy who came from very little that if you have a dream and work hard you can achieve it.
