Taliyah Whitaker

Viola Davis is an Oscar-winning American actress. Born the fifth of six children to Mary Alice, a domestic worker and factory worker, and Dan Davis, a horse trainer, in St. Matthews, South Carolina, Davis moved with her family to Central Falls, Rhode Island at a young age. She experienced a childhood marked by financial hardship. She became involved in theatre at Central Falls High School. She later received theatre and acting training at Rhode Island College and Juilliard School. She had a small role in her first film, The Substance of Fire. During this period, she appeared in films such as Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, Solaris, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven. In 2008, despite appearing in only one scene in Doubt, she received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2011, she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role in The Help. In 2016, she played high-level intelligence officer Amanda Waller in the DC Comics film Suicide Squad. That same year, her performance in Fences, directed by and starring Denzel Washington, earned her Oscars, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards for Best Supporting Actress. Davis, who married Julius Tennon in 2003, has three children.