Sometimes you take a job for the money, sometimes you take it for the location, sometimes you take it for the script; there are just a number of reasons, and ultimately what you see is the whole landscape of it. But I can tell you from behind the scenes – that’s what it is, as an actor.
VIOLA DAVISWe grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.
More Viola Davis Quotes
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I think that you always want to gravitate towards people who absolutely are great at what they do and go for authenticity.
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Creativity only resonates if you infuse real life into the work.
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Eating bread in Hollywood is a no-no!
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At the end of the day, nobody can tell you how to tackle failure or how to handle change. The world is very good at encouraging you to go along with the status quo and at basking in your successes.
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Do not live someone else’s life and someone else’s idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that’s inside of you.
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I’ve been in this business 25 years. I’ve been eking out a living doing Broadway, off-Broadway… I’ve seen the unemployment line a lot.
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Ultimately, it’s not your job, as an actress, to satisfy people’s expectations or image of who you should be. Even in your life, you are just who you are.
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Ordinary people who are just kind of just going about their lives are transformed into heroes because they have the courage to put their voices out there. I think that’s a powerful message in this time of political strife.
VIOLA DAVIS -
Tyler Perry’s ‘Madea Goes to Jail!’ Which, I have to tell you, of everything that I’ve ever done in my career, that’s the only thing that’s perked up the ears of my nieces and nephews. That is it, that’s done it for them. That made me a bona fide star in their eyes!
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I just look at women sometimes and I just want to ask them, “Do you know how fabulous you are?”
VIOLA DAVIS -
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.
VIOLA DAVIS -
Ordinary people who are just kind of just going about their lives are transformed into heroes because they have the courage to put their voices out there. And I think that’s a powerful message in this time of political strife.
VIOLA DAVIS -
Self-deprecation is not an answer to keeping one’s balance. I think that it’s very damaging.
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The only thing that separates women of color from everyone else is opportunity.
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If the opportunity is not out there for you to play it, then you don’t see it.
VIOLA DAVIS






