Viola Davis

Daughter of Mary and Dan Davis. Dan was a horse-groomer for the Narrangasett and Lincoln Downs racetracks in Rhode Island.

Won Broadways 2001 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for August Wilson s "King Hedley II". She had previously been nominated in the same category in 1996 for another Wilson play, "Seven Guitars".

Won the 2005 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for "Intimate Apparel".

Attended and graduated from Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island , where she majored in theater. She later received an honorary degree in Fine Arts from the college.

After her graduation from Rhode Island College, she attended the Juilliard School in New York City for four years, and was a member of the school Drama Division "Group 22" (1989-1993).

Grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Her family moved there when she was 2-months old.

Inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on June 30, 2009.

(October 2011) Announced that she and her husband, Julius Tennon , have adopted a newborn daughter named Genesis Tennon.

In 2012, Davis told Entertainment Weekly that she and her husband stayed at George Clooneys Italian estate on Lake Como for their honeymoon.

Is one of 10 African-American actresses to be Oscar-nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The others in chronological order are Dorothy Dandridge , Diana Ross , Cicely Tyson , Diahann Carroll , Whoopi Goldberg , Angela Bassett , Halle Berry , Gabourey Sidibe and Quvenzhan Wallis.

Is one of two African-American actresses (the other being Whoopi Goldberg ) to be nominated for an Academy Award in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.

Returned to work 4 months after adopting her daughter Genesis to begin filming Enders Game .

Named one of Time magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World .

Named Glamour magazines Film Actress of the Year.

Won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in "Fences".

Stepmother to Julius Tennon s two sons from previous relationships.

As of 2017, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Traffic , Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close , The Help and Fences .

Is the first black actress to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for "How to Get Away with Murder" .

Shared the cover of Vanity Fair magazines 2016 Hollywood issue with, Jane Fonda , Cate Blanchett , Jennifer Lawrence , Charlotte Rampling , Rachel Weisz , Lupita Nyongo , Brie Larson , Alicia Vikander , Gugu Mbatha-Raw , Helen Mirren , Diane Keaton and Saoirse Ronan. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz.

Is one of five actresses to receive an Oscar nomination for a performance with less than 10 minutes of screen time.

She was nominated for the 1996 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "Seven Guitars" on Broadway in New York City.

She was awarded the 1996 Drama Logue Award for Performance for "Seven Guitars" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

She was awarded the 2004 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Lead Performance for "Intimate Apparel" in association with Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Oprah Winfrey and beau Stedman Graham attended her third marriage to Julius.

She was awarded for a 2001 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "King Hedley II" on Broadway in New York City.

She was awarded for a 2001 New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "King Hedley II" on Broadway in New York City.

She was awarded the 2004 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play for "Intimate Apparel" in association with Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

She was awarded for a 2001 New York Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "King Hedley II" on Broadway in New York City.

She was awarded for the 2004 Back Stage Garland Award for Outstanding Performance for "Intimate Apparel" in association with Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Counts Cicely Tyson s Emmy-winning performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman as a pivotal moment in her life when she ultimately understood how acting could be such a transformative craft.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7013 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 5, 2017.

Is the only African-American actress to have received three acting Oscar nominations.

Is one of 16 actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony). The others in chronological order are Helen Hayes , Ingrid Bergman , Shirley Booth , Liza Minnelli , Rita Moreno , Maureen Stapleton , Jessica Tandy , Audrey Hepburn , Anne Bancroft , Vanessa Redgrave , Maggie Smith , Ellen Burstyn , Helen Mirren , Frances McDormand and Jessica Lange.

In 2017, Davis became the 25th performer (and first African-American actress) to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony). She won the 2001 Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony Award for "King Hedley II" and the 2010 Best Leading Actress in a Play Tony Award for "Fences", the 2015 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy Award for "How to Get Away with Murder" , and the 2017 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences .

Is one of seven African-American actresses to have won an acting Oscar in a competitive category. The others in chronological order are Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind , Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost , Halle Berry for Monsters Ball , Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls , MoNique for Precious (2009/II) and Octavia Spencer for The Help .

Was the 147th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences at The Oscars on February 26, 2017.

Is one of only nine actors to have won both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role on stage and film. The others are Yul Brynner ( The King and I ), Rex Harrison ( My Fair Lady ), Anne Bancroft ( The Miracle Worker ), Joel Grey ( Cabaret ), Paul Scofield ( A Man for All Seasons ), Shirley Booth ( Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) ), Jack Albertson ( The Subject Was Roses ) and Jos Ferrer ( Cyrano de Bergerac ).

Viola Davis won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the role of Rose Maxon in "Fences" (in the 2010 Broadway revival of the play and the 2016 film adaptation, respectively). In the original 1987 Broadway production of the play, the role of Rose was originated by the actress Mary Alice--which was also the name of Viola Daviss mother.

With her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences , Viola Davis became the first black woman to have won a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar for acting. Whoopi Goldberg not only has all three awards; she also has a Grammy (making her one of the few "EGOT" honorees, someone who has won all four awards)--but Goldberg won her Tony Award for producing the Broadway show "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (1999-2003).

Friends with Octavia Spencer Meryl Streep , and Denzel Washington.

Given the choice, she prefers the stage to film acting.

Is one of two actresses who have won both the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (hers being for Fences ) and the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy (hers being for "How to Get Away with Murder" ). The other actress is Patricia Arquette.

Born on the same date as Embeth Davidtz.

"JuVee Productions" is the company she heads with husband Julius Ju(lius)V(iola).

We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a,way of escaping our environment at a very young age.

[on playing Annalise Keating on,"How to Get Away with Murder" (2014) ] The challenge for any,writer, any artist, is to somehow combine art with the mess that we,call life. I spent too much time in my career - probably too much -,trying to force writers to write for me in a way that was bold. Well,you know what? This is it. This is bold.

The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is,opportunity.

Colorism and racism in this country are so powerful. As an actress, I,have been a great victim of that. There were a lot of things that,people did not allow me to be until I got. . . Annalise Keating,["How to Get Away with Murder" (2014) ]. I was not able to be,sexualized. Ever. In my entire career.

I became an artist - and thank God I did - because we are the only,profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.

We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.

I do believe that there are African Americans who have thick accents. My mom has a thick accent; my relatives have thick accents. But sometimes you have to adjust when you go into the world of film, TV, theatre, in order to make it accessible to people. .