Davis, Viola
1965- · Contribution: 2001-present
Award-winning actress and producer who became the first Black performer to achieve the 'Triple Crown of Acting' (competitive Oscar, Emmy, and Tony) and the first African American woman to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; later an EGOT winner.
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Impact on the world
In 2015 she became the first African American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for 'How to Get Away with Murder,' and with her 2016 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 'Fences' she became the first Black performer to complete the Triple Crown of Acting by winning a competitive Oscar, Emmy, and Tony. In 2023 a Grammy for narrating her memoir 'Finding Me' made her an EGOT winner, only the third Black woman to reach that milestone; she is also the most-awarded Black performer in Screen Actors Guild Award history and the first Black actress with four Academy Award acting nominations.
Life & background
Born on August 11, 1965, in St. Matthews, South Carolina, and raised in poverty in Central Falls, Rhode Island, the youngest of a large family, Viola Davis discovered theater as a child and trained at Rhode Island College and the Juilliard School. She built a distinguished stage career, winning Tony Awards for two August Wilson revivals, 'King Hedley II' (2001) and 'Fences' (2010), and earned early film acclaim with Oscar-nominated supporting turns in 'Doubt' (2008) and 'The Help' (2011). Her performance as attorney Annalise Keating in 'How to Get Away with Murder' (2014-2020) made her, in 2015, the first African American woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, a moment she used to speak about the opportunities long denied to actresses of color; the following year she won the Academy Award for 'Fences,' completing the Triple Crown of Acting as the first Black performer to do so. She went on to lead films including 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (2020) and 'The Woman King' (2022), published the bestselling memoir 'Finding Me,' and won a 2023 Grammy for its audiobook to become an EGOT recipient. With her husband, Julius Tennon, she runs the production company JuVee Productions, dedicated to amplifying underrepresented stories.
Sources
- Britannica (Viola Davis); Biography.com (EGOT Winner Viola Davis); Forbes; Britannica (Students edition)
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