We as artists cannot be politicians. We as artists can only be truth-tellers.
VIOLA DAVISSometimes 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.
More Viola Davis Quotes
-
-
And that’s what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves – parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it’s pretty spectacular.
VIOLA DAVIS -
Your internal dialogue has got to be different from what you say. And, you know, in film, hopefully that registers and speaks volumes. It’s always the unspoken word and what’s happening behind someone’s eyes that makes it so rich.
VIOLA DAVIS -
Acting, it’s the disappearance of self, disappearance of your own needs and your own wants and the kind of embracing of the character that makes it work.
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 -
Relationships change us and make us grow.
VIOLA DAVIS -
One of the people I’ve always wanted to emulate in pursuing that dream was Meryl Streep, in terms of the different types of roles she’s been able to play and the number of different stories she’s been able to tell.
VIOLA DAVIS -
I want my work to reflect my level of gifts and talent.
VIOLA DAVIS -
If the opportunity is not out there for you to play it, then you don’t see it.
VIOLA DAVIS -
When you see what the deficit is, then you have to do something about it.
VIOLA DAVIS -
It’s time for people to see us, people of colour, for what we really are: complicated.
VIOLA DAVIS -
That is a huge need for a lot of women, even in 2016. You can have the most ambitious career woman, and at the end of the day, she’s like, ‘I just want to be a mom.
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!
VIOLA DAVIS -
Even when I get the fried-chicken special of the day, I have to dig into it like it’s filet mignon.
VIOLA DAVIS -
Actor is just a strange profession, it really is, that you could be in front of the same people for years, and all of a sudden one thing happens, and it finally clicks.
VIOLA DAVIS -
They say the two most important days in a person’s life were the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born.
VIOLA DAVIS






