Classically trained, award-winning actor, Viola Davis has conquered every medium from stage to television to film. From her Tony Award-winning performances in “King Hedley II” and “Fences” to her Academy Award-nominated performances in “The Help” and “Doubt,” Davis has burst through every barrier to become one of the most accomplished and celebrated actors today.

Davis began her career on stage and won an Obie Award in 1999 for her performance as Ruby McCollum in Everybody's Ruby. Davis' film breakthrough came in 2008 when her supporting role in the drama Doubt earned her several nominations, including the Golden Globe, SAG, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In “The Help,” Davis captivated audiences and critics alike with her portrayal of Aibileen Clark. Davis earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Leading Role, a Critics Choice Award for Best Actress, and was also nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and British Academy Film Award. The film also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and a Critics Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble.

For her role of Rose Maxson in the film adaptation of Fences, Davis won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, SAG Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Other notable films include “Beautiful Creatures,” “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” “Knight and Day” with Tom Cruise, and “Eat Pray Love” starring opposite Julia Roberts and “Get on Up” the story of James Brown’s rise from poverty to fame. Davis also played Amanda Waller in 2016's "Suicide Squad."

For her portrayal of lawyer Annalise Keating in Shonda Rhimes-produced series, “How to Get Away with Murder” on ABC, Davis won two SAG Awards in 2015 and 2016 and became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2015.

Rising out of "the absolute epitome of poverty," Davis fell in love with theater early in high school as a form of escape. Her passion and growing abilities for acting would pay off with a full scholarship to the Young Peoples School of the Performing Arts before attending the prestigious Julliard School for four years. In 1996, Davis hit the acting trifecta by earning roles on Broadway (“Seven Guitars”), TV (“NYPD Blue”), and film (“The Substance of Fire”).

Equally passionate is her dedication to ensure that women of color are part of the narrative, on all artistic platforms. On raising the profiles and stories of young women of color, Davis says, "I want to do what Cicely Tyson did to me... she allowed me to have the visual of what it means to dream." It's this type of ideology and commitment that TIME saw when they named Davis as "one of the most influential people of 2012 and 2017.

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