Viola Davis
Known for Acting · 136 credits
- Born
- 1965-08-11 (age 60)
- Place of birth
- St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA
Biography
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.
Known For
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Donna Emmett
The Simpsons
1989
as Narrator (voice)
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000
as Attorney Campbell
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self / Self - Guest
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self / Self - Guest
TV Shows (55)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Donna Emmett
The Simpsons
1989
as Narrator (voice)
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000
as Attorney Campbell
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self / Self - Guest
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self / Self - Guest
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self - Guest
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001
as Terry Randolph
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019
as Self
The Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
The Jennifer Hudson Show
2022
as Self
Without a Trace
2002
as Audrey Williams
The View
1997
as Self - Guest
Scandal
2012
as Annalise Keating
Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Presenter / Self - Nominee
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self / Self - Guest
Third Watch
1999
as Margo Rodriguez
The Practice
1997
as Aisha Crenshaw
NYPD Blue
1993
as Woman
Hot Ones
2015
as Self
How to Get Away with Murder
2014
as Annalise Keating
60 Minutes
1968
as Self
Judging Amy
1999
as Celeste
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
as Self
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
as Self - Guest
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
The Guardian
2001
as Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
Peacemaker
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
CBS News Sunday Morning
1979
as Self
Brothers and Sisters
2006
as Ellen Snyder
Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Presenter
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self
The Division
2001
as Dr. Georgia Davis
Providence
1999
as Dr. Eleanor Weiss
Sofia the First
2013
as Helen Hanshaw (voice)
The Oscars
1953
as Self
Hack
2002
as Stevie Morgan
Creature Commandos
2024
as Amanda Waller (voice)
Hot Ones Versus
2024
as Self
C ce soir, le débat
2021
as Self - Guest
Number One on the Call Sheet
2025
as Self
Live from E!
2002
as Self
United States of Tara
2009
Celebrity IOU
2020
as Self
The First Lady
2022
as Michelle Obama
Threshold
2005
The Andromeda Strain
2008
as Dr. Charlene Barton
Dear...
2020
as Self
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
1995
as Self
City of Angels
2000
as Lynnette Peeler
Century City
2004
Traveler
2007
as Agent Jan Marlow
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Rosemary Allbright
Hollywood Black
2024
as Self (archive footage)
The Grammys
1959
as Self
Movies (81)
Kung Fu Panda 4
2024
as The Chameleon (voice)
The Suicide Squad
2021
as Amanda Waller
Prisoners
2013
as Nancy Birch
Black Adam
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
Ocean's Eleven
2001
as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
The Help
2011
as Aibileen Clark
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2023
as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Law Abiding Citizen
2009
as Mayor April Henry
Suicide Squad
2016
as Amanda Waller
Air
2023
as Deloris Jordan
G20
2025
as President Danielle Sutton
Eat Pray Love
2010
as Delia Shiraz
Disturbia
2007
as Detective Parker
Knight and Day
2010
as CIA Director Isabel George
The Woman King
2022
as Nanisca
Blackhat
2015
as Carol Barrett
Traffic
2000
as Social Worker
The Unforgivable
2021
as Liz Ingram
Ender's Game
2013
as Major Gwen Anderson
Fences
2016
as Rose Maxson
Widows
2018
as Veronica Rawlings
Trust
2010
as Gail Friedman
State of Play
2009
as Dr. Judith Franklin
Syriana
2005
as CIA Chairwoman
Kate & Leopold
2001
as Policewoman
Out of Sight
1998
as Moselle
Beautiful Creatures
2013
as Amma Treadeau
Doubt
2008
as Mrs. Miller
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2005
as Grandma
Solaris
2002
as Gordon
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
2011
as Abby Black
World Trade Center
2006
as Mother in Hospital
It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010
as Dr. Eden Minerva
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018
as Self (archive footage)
Far from Heaven
2002
as Sybil
Madea Goes to Jail
2009
as Ellen
Get On Up
2014
as Susie Brown
Antwone Fisher
2002
as Eva May
Nights in Rodanthe
2008
as Jean
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
2007
as Molly Crane
Stone Cold
2005
as Molly Crane
Lila & Eve
2015
as Lila Walcott
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2020
as Ma Rainey
Children of Blood and Bone
2027
as Mama Agba
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019
as Florida Evans
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
2006
as Officer Molly Crane
Won't Back Down
2012
as Nona Alberts
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Troop Zero
2019
as Miss Rayleen
Custody
2016
as Martha Schulman
Love, Marilyn
2013
as Self
Beyond All Boundaries
2009
as Hortense Johnson
The Architect
2006
as Tonya Neely
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
2006
as Molly Crane
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
On Broadway
2019
as Self (archive footage)
The Pentagon Wars
1998
as Sgt. Fanning
The Substance of Fire
1996
as Nurse
Grace & Glorie
1998
as Rosemary Allbright
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2024
as Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2006
as Diane Barrino
Operation Othello
2019
as Narrator
The Shrink Is In
2001
as Robin
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
2026
as Narrator (voice)
Amy & Isabelle
2001
as Dottie
Doubt: Stage to Screen
2009
as Self
Giving Voice
2020
as Self
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015
as Self
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
as Rachel Dupree
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
2022
as Self
Food 2050
2022
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Ally Clark
as Ally Clark
Small Great Things
A Touch of Sugar
2019
as Narrator
Two Butterflies
House of Games
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
1998
as Sharon Hughes
I Almost Forgot About You
as Dr. Georgia Young
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
2025
as Narration
About Viola Davis
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… With 136 credits spanning from 1944 to 2027, Viola Davis has appeared in 81 films and 55 TV shows.
Fans searching for Viola Davis movies, Viola Davis filmography, or the latest projects starring Viola Davis can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Viola Davis Movies
- Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) — as The Chameleon (voice)
- The Suicide Squad (2021) — as Amanda Waller
- Prisoners (2013) — as Nancy Birch
- Black Adam (2022) — as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
- Ocean's Eleven (2001) — as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
Where to Watch Viola Davis Films
Most Viola Davis movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Viola Davis, check our movies catalogue and browse page.