Biography viola davis
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Viola Davis
1965-present
Who Is Viola Davis?
Viola Davis grew up in Rhode Island, where she began acting — first in high school, and then at Rhode Island College. After attending the Juilliard School of Performing Arts, Davis made her Broadway debut in 1996 in Seven Guitars. She has won Tony Awards for her performances in King Hedley II (2001) and a revival of August Wilson's Fences (2010), which co-starred Denzel Washington. Her film work includes Doubt (2008), for which she received an Oscar nomination, The Help (2011), Ender's Game (2013) and Get on Up (2014). In 2015 she became the first African American woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the television series How to Get Away with Murder. She reprised her role playing Rose Maxson in the 2016 film adaptation of Fences, directed by and co-starring Washington, for which she received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2017.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Viol
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Viola Davis - Biography
Early life
Both a celebrated stage performer, she's had roles on and off Broadway, and screen actress movie roles include Traffic, Solaris and Doubt - Viola was born in South Carolina in August 1965, moving with her underprivileged family as a youngster to Rhode Island in New England.
There, as a teenager, her talent earned her a scholarship at a performing arts school and she went on to study theatre at college, before spending four years at New York's prestigious school for the performing arts Juilliard.
Breakthrough
Her first big stage role was 1996 tragi-comedy Seven Guitars, which brought her rave reviews and a Tony nod. Other scen highlights include Everybody's Ruby and King Hedley II. It was her performance as Tonya, a 35-year-old mother fighting for her right to an abortion, in the latter which eventually secured her a best actress Tony in 2001.
Viola has a close working relationship with director Steven Soderbergh, a
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Viola Davis is an American producer and actress of stage, screen, and television. Davis was born August 11, 1965, in St. Matthews, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Mary Alice Davis, a maid, factory worker, homemaker, and civil rights activist. Her father, Dan Davis, is horse trainer. Davis is the second youngest of six children. The Davis family would later move to Central Falls, Rhode Island, where Viola attended Central Falls High School. After graduating from high school, she attended Rhode Island College, earning a degree in theater in 1988. Davis would continue her studies at the Juilliard School of Performing Arts in New York City for four years (1989–1993).
Davis made her Broadway debut in August Wilson’s tragic comedy Seven Guitars, in 1996, in which she played the character Vera, a woman who takes back her boyfriend who had wronged her. A few years later, Davis worked with Wilson again in his 2001 drama King Hedley II, for which she won her first Tony Award and D