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Actor
Viola Davis
Viola Davis’s screen credits include Nancy Birch in Prisoners, Aibileen Clark in The Help, and Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad.
Born August 11, 1965 St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA6 movies on MoviHero
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A selection of released films from our catalog, with the credited role to help you choose.
THE PERSON BEHIND THE ROLES
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 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). …
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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.
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MOVIHERO CREDITS
Movies and roles
Explore 6 movie guides, credited roles and upcoming releases.
Movies on MoviHero 6
Showing 6 of 6 credits
- 2027Children of Blood and Bone2h 26m · Adventure · FantasyMama AgbaUpcoming
- 2026Portrait of an Artist: Stephen CurryDocumentarySelf
- 2021The Suicide Squad2h 12m · Action · AdventureAmanda Waller
- 2016Suicide Squad2h 2m · Action · AdventureAmanda Waller
- 2013Prisoners2h 33m · Crime · DramaNancy Birch
- 2011The Help2h 26m · DramaAibileen Clark
More film credits 85 additional titles
These credits do not currently have a MoviHero movie guide. Use the filters to separate released and upcoming work.
Showing 8 of 85 credits
- 2026The Color of ColaProducer
- 2026W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a CauseNarrator (voice)
- 2025ASALI: Power of the PollinatorsProducer
- 2025G20Producer · President Danielle Sutton
- 2025The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant MortalityNarration
- 2024Kung Fu Panda 4The Chameleon (voice)
- 2024Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & SnakesSelf (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
- 2023The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & SnakesDr. Volumnia Gaul
- 2023Silver Dollar RoadProducer
- 2023AirDeloris Jordan
- 2022Food 2050Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2022Black AdamAmanda Waller (uncredited)
- 2022The Woman KingProducer · Nanisca
- 2022Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special EventSelf
- 2021The UnforgivableLiz Ingram
- 2020Ma Rainey's Black BottomMa Rainey
- 2020Giving VoiceSelf
- 2019Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"Florida Evans
- 2019On BroadwaySelf (archive footage)
- 2019EmanuelProducer
- 2019A Touch of SugarNarrator
- 2019Troop ZeroProducer · Miss Rayleen
- 2018WidowsVeronica Rawlings
- 2018Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein ScandalSelf (archive footage)
- 2017Night ShiftProducer
- 2016FencesRose Maxson
- 2016CustodyMartha Schulman
- 2015Lila & EveLila Walcott
- 2015August Wilson: The Ground on Which I StandSelf
- 2015BlackhatCarol Barrett
- 2014The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: HerProfessor Lillian Friedman
- 2014The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: HimProfessor Lillian Friedman
- 2014Get On UpSusie Brown
- 2014The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: ThemProfessor Lillian Friedman
- 2013Ender's GameMajor Gwen Anderson
- 2013Love, MarilynSelf
- 2013Beautiful CreaturesAmma Treadeau
- 2012Won't Back DownNona Alberts
- 2011Extremely Loud & Incredibly CloseAbby Black
- 2011Dark GirlsSelf
- 2010It's Kind of a Funny StoryEden Minerva
- 2010TrustGail Friedman
- 2010Eat Pray LoveDelia Shiraz
- 2010Knight and DayCIA Director Isabel George
- 2009Beyond All BoundariesHortense Johnson
- 2009Law Abiding CitizenMayor April Henry
- 2009State of PlayDr. Judith Franklin
- 2009Doubt: Stage to ScreenSelf
- 2009Madea Goes to JailEllen
- 2008DoubtMrs. Miller
- 2008Nights in RodantheJean
- 2007Jesse Stone: Sea ChangeMolly Crane
- 2007DisturbiaDetective Parker
- 2006The ArchitectTonya Neely
- 2006Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino StoryDiane Barrino
- 2006World Trade CenterMother in Hospital
- 2006The Best of The Tony Awards: The PlaysTonya (segment "King Hedley II")
- 2006Jesse Stone: Death in ParadiseMolly Crane
- 2006Jesse Stone: Night PassageOfficer Molly Crane
- 2005SyrianaCIA Chairwoman
- 2005Get Rich or Die Tryin'Grandma
- 2005Stone ColdMolly Crane
- 2002Antwone FisherEva May
- 2002SolarisGordon
- 2002Far from HeavenSybil
- 2001Kate & LeopoldPolicewoman
- 2001Ocean's ElevenParole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
- 2001The Shrink Is InRobin
- 2001Amy & IsabelleDottie
- 2000TrafficSocial Worker
- 1998Grace & GlorieRosemary Allbright
- 1998Out of SightMoselle
- 1998The Pentagon WarsSgt. Fanning
- 1998Miss Apprehension and SquirtSharon Hughes
- 1996The Substance of FireNurse
- Ally ClarkProducer · Ally Clark
- Black Boys Don't SewProducer
- House of GamesActor · Producer
- I Almost Forgot About YouDr. Georgia Young
- MfindaProducer
- Operation OthelloProducer · Narrator
- Small Great ThingsActor
- The Personal History of Rachel DuPreeRachel Dupree
- The Untamed: A Sinner's PrayerProducer
- Two ButterfliesActor
CHARACTER GUIDES
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Explore character guides connected to Viola Davis's movie credits.
Mama Agba
Children of Blood and Bone
Open character guideNancy Birch
Prisoners
Open character guideAibileen Clark
The Help
Open character guideAmanda Waller
Suicide Squad · The Suicide Squad
Open character guideCONNECTED THROUGH MOVIES
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Idris Elba
2 shared films on MoviHeroActor
Jai Courtney
2 shared films on MoviHeroActor
Joel Kinnaman
2 shared films on MoviHeroActor