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 DAVISYour 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 DAVISI don’t want anyone putting any limits on me.
VIOLA DAVISDo 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.
VIOLA DAVISIf the opportunity is not out there for you to play it, then you don’t see it.
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 DAVISI am not a glam woman – this definitely is a mask I put on for the public.
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 DAVISActing, 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 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 DAVISAnd this is what was fascinating to me about ‘The Help’; they were ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
VIOLA DAVISWomanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that’s inside of you.
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’ve always just simply seen myself as an actor. And I believe that it serves me well to just think in terms of my craft. If hypothetically, I saw myself only as a sex symbol, or as some other limited stereotype, I think I would feel like a complete failure.
VIOLA DAVISI would love to be remembered as a person who used her life to inspire others in any way, shape or form.
VIOLA DAVISYou cannot live to please everyone else. You have to edify, educate and fulfill your own dreams and destiny.
VIOLA DAVISI think that you always want to gravitate towards people who absolutely are great at what they do and go for authenticity.
VIOLA DAVIS