Viola Davis
Known for Acting · 140 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.
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Known For
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Donna Emmett
The Simpsons
1989
as Narrator (voice)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self / Self - Guest
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
TV Shows (57)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Donna Emmett
The Simpsons
1989
as Narrator (voice)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self / Self - Guest
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
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 Jennifer Hudson Show
2022
as Self
The Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
Without a Trace
2002
as Audrey Williams
NYPD Blue
1993
as Woman
Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Presenter / Self - Nominee
The View
1997
as Self - Guest
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self / Self - Guest
CBS News Sunday Morning
1979
as Self
Hot Ones
2015
as Self
Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Presenter
60 Minutes
1968
as Self
Scandal
2012
as Annalise Keating
The Practice
1997
as Aisha Crenshaw
How to Get Away with Murder
2014
as Annalise Keating
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
as Self - Guest
Peacemaker
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
Judging Amy
1999
as Celeste
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
as Self
Brothers and Sisters
2006
as Ellen Snyder
Third Watch
1999
as Margo Rodriguez
The Division
2001
as Dr. Georgia Davis
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self
The Guardian
2001
as Suzanna Clemons' Attorney
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
Sofia the First
2013
as Helen Hanshaw (voice)
Hot Ones Versus
2024
as Self
Providence
1999
as Dr. Eleanor Weiss
The Oscars
1953
as Self
Number One on the Call Sheet
2025
as Self
Creature Commandos
2024
as Amanda Waller (voice)
Hack
2002
as Stevie Morgan
The Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
1995
as Self
Live from E!
2002
as Self
C ce soir, le débat
2021
as Self - Guest
Dear...
2020
as Self
United States of Tara
2009
Threshold
2005
The First Lady
2022
as Michelle Obama
Celebrity IOU
2020
as Self
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Rosemary Allbright
The Andromeda Strain
2008
as Dr. Charlene Barton
Century City
2004
as Hannah Crane
City of Angels
2000
as Lynnette Peeler
Hollywood Black
2024
as Self (archive footage)
Traveler
2007
as Agent Jan Marlow
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
2025
The Grammys
1959
as Self
Waller
as Amanda Waller
Movies (83)
Kung Fu Panda 4
2024
as The Chameleon (voice)
Black Adam
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
The Suicide Squad
2021
as Amanda Waller
Prisoners
2013
as Nancy Birch
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2023
as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Ocean's Eleven
2001
as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
The Help
2011
as Aibileen Clark
Suicide Squad
2016
as Amanda Waller
Law Abiding Citizen
2009
as Mayor April Henry
The Woman King
2022
as Nanisca
Knight and Day
2010
as CIA Director Isabel George
Ender's Game
2013
as Major Gwen Anderson
The Unforgivable
2021
as Liz Ingram
Disturbia
2007
as Detective Parker
Eat Pray Love
2010
as Delia Shiraz
Traffic
2000
as Social Worker
Blackhat
2015
as Carol Barrett
Fences
2016
as Rose Maxson
Beautiful Creatures
2013
as Amma Treadeau
Air
2023
as Deloris Jordan
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2005
as Grandma
G20
2025
as President Danielle Sutton
World Trade Center
2006
as Mother in Hospital
Widows
2018
as Veronica Rawlings
Syriana
2005
as CIA Chairwoman
State of Play
2009
as Dr. Judith Franklin
Doubt
2008
as Mrs. Miller
Out of Sight
1998
as Moselle
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
2011
as Abby Black
Solaris
2002
as Gordon
Nights in Rodanthe
2008
as Jean
Trust
2010
as Gail Friedman
Kate & Leopold
2001
as Policewoman
It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010
as Dr. Eden Minerva
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2020
as Ma Rainey
Far from Heaven
2002
as Sybil
Children of Blood and Bone
2027
as Mama Agba
Get On Up
2014
as Susie Brown
Stone Cold
2005
as Molly Crane
Dark Girls
2011
as Self
Custody
2016
as Martha Schulman
Beyond All Boundaries
2009
as Hortense Johnson
Madea Goes to Jail
2009
as Ellen
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Jesse Stone: Sea Change
2007
as Molly Crane
Love, Marilyn
2013
as Self
Jesse Stone: Night Passage
2006
as Officer Molly Crane
Antwone Fisher
2002
as Eva May
Won't Back Down
2012
as Nona Alberts
The Pentagon Wars
1998
as Sgt. Fanning
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Troop Zero
2019
as Miss Rayleen
Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
2006
as Molly Crane
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
2017
as Self (uncredited)
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
2026
as Narrator (voice)
The Shrink Is In
2001
as Robin
The Substance of Fire
1996
as Nurse
Lila & Eve
2015
as Lila Walcott
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018
as Self (archive footage)
The Architect
2006
as Tonya Neely
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019
as Florida Evans
Amy & Isabelle
2001
as Dottie
Doubt: Stage to Screen
2009
as Self
Grace & Glorie
1998
as Rosemary Allbright
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2006
as Diane Barrino
Small Great Things
On Broadway
2019
as Self (archive footage)
Giving Voice
2020
as Self
House of Games
Operation Othello
2019
as Narrator
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015
as Self
Ally Clark
as Ally Clark
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2024
as Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
as Rachel Dupree
Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
2022
as Self
I Almost Forgot About You
as Dr. Georgia Young
A Touch of Sugar
2019
as Narrator
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
1998
as Sharon Hughes
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
2025
as Narration
Food 2050
2022
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Two Butterflies
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 140 credits spanning from 1944 to 2027, Viola Davis has appeared in 83 films and 57 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)
- Black Adam (2022) — as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
- The Suicide Squad (2021) — as Amanda Waller
- Prisoners (2013) — as Nancy Birch
- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) — as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
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.