Viola Davis
Actress, producer and memoirist
Viola Davis is an American actress and producer who has won an Oscar, an Emmy and two Tonys. She wrote the 2022 memoir Finding Me.
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American Born 1965 in St. Matthews, United States
About Viola Davis
Viola Davis was born on August 11, 1965, and studied at Juilliard. She began her career in small stage productions in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and made her Broadway debut in August Wilson's Seven Guitars in 1996. She later won Tony Awards for King Hedley II and Fences, and an Academy Award for the 2016 film version of Fences. On television, she was the first Black actress to win the Emmy for best lead actress in a drama series, for playing Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder. Her memoir Finding Me came out in 2022, and its audiobook narration won her a Grammy Award. She and her husband founded the production company JuVee Productions, and in 2025 she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes.