Viola Davis thanked people who have ''redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black'' during her Emmys acceptance speech.

The 50-year-old actress became the first African-American woman to win Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmys on Sunday night (20.09.15) in Los Angeles for her starring role in the legal drama series 'How to Get Away with Murder' and she used the occasion to thank some of her inspirations.

She said: ''You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So, here's to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes.

''People who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black. And to the Taraji P. Hensons and How to Get Away with Murders, the Halle Berrys, the Nicole Beharies, the Meagan Goodes, to Gabrielle Union.''

The emotion-filled speech was subsequently praised by Kerry Washington, who took to Twitter to offer her own view.

The actress retweeted news of Viola's historic awards win and wrote: ''AMEN!!!! Best speech of the night. (sic)''