Let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.
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Let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.
VIOLA DAVISThey 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 DAVISUltimately, 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.
VIOLA DAVISAs an artist, you’ve got to see the mess. That’s what we do. We get a human being, and it’s like putting together a puzzle. And the puzzle has got to be a mixture, a multifaceted mixture of human emotions, and not all of it is going to be pretty.
VIOLA DAVIS[I listen to] “Uptown Funk”, Bruno Mars, sometimes even Nina Simone and Adele. Whatever comes up, whatever floats my boat, whatever makes me tap into something in me to just decompress – I listen to that.
VIOLA DAVISI’m a sitting duck. No, seriously, I mean I wish I could say more, but I’m a sitting duck because I can’t get ahead of them [cyber experts]. They’re far ahead of me. That’s what I learned: how vulnerable we are. It’s a big, silent monster out there. That’s what it feels like.
VIOLA DAVISWomanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that’s inside of you.
VIOLA DAVISEven when I get the fried-chicken special of the day, I have to dig into it like it’s filet mignon.
VIOLA DAVISOrdinary 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 DAVISAnd “classically not beautiful” is a fancy term for saying ugly. And denouncing you. And erasing you.
VIOLA DAVISThat’s why there’s so much bad acting out there, because you could see actors watching themselves.
VIOLA DAVISI’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.
VIOLA DAVISAny actor will tell you, as soon as your ego and your vanity come into the mix, it destroys your work. Completely destroys it.
VIOLA DAVISAll you really need to do is shift people just a tiny bit for change to happen. It doesn’t have to be huge and humongous.
VIOLA DAVISI have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish.
VIOLA DAVISI think that what happens so often on screen is high-stake moments tends to look too pretty. And I just don’t think it’s honest.
VIOLA DAVIS