Why Is Viola Davis So Famous?

Primetime Emmy Award winner, Viola Davis, is so famous for being the first woman of color to win the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series.

She achieved the feat in 2015, for her role as Professor Annalise Keating, in the movie How To Get Away With Murder.

Who Is Viola Davis?

Viola Davis is an actress and producer, who has become the most-nominated black actress in Oscar history.

Born on August 11, 1965, in South Carolina, U.S.A, Davis went to Central Falls High School, and later bagged a degree in theatre from Rhode Island College.

Upon graduation, she proceeded to the Juilliard School and joined the school’s Drama Division, where she honed her acting skills.

Viola Davis Career

Davis launched her career by appearing in small theater productions and in 1999, she won an Obie Award, for her role in the film Everybody’s Ruby.

Her breakthrough came in 2008 when she played the role of a troubled mother in the movie Doubt.

Since then, Davis has starred in several films and television series including King Hedley II, Fences, The Help, How to Get Away with Murder, Suicide Squad, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

For five years, beginning from 2012, Davis was ranked amongst the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. And in 2020, she was named one of the greatest actors of the 21st century, by The New York Times.

The award-winning actress has bagged several awards and nominations for her work on television.

Some of them include a Primetime Emmy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards, one Academy Award, one British Academy Film Award, one Golden Globe Award, three Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Academy Award nominations.