Viola Davis (born August 11, 1965) is an acclaimed American actress and producer who has achieved the rare EGOT and Triple Crown of Acting, and was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2012 and 2017. Born in South Carolina and raised in poverty in Rhode Island—where her mother was arrested during a civil rights protest—she later graduated from Juilliard. She made her mark on Broadway with August Wilson plays, winning two Tony Awards, including for Fences (2010), and later won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2016 film adaptation of that play. On television, she became the first Black actress to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020), and she also starred in films like The Help, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and The Woman King. Beyond acting, she co-founded the production company JuVee Productions, advocates for human rights and women of color, and won a Grammy for narrating her 2022 memoir Finding Me. She received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2025, cementing her legacy as one of the greatest actors of her generation.