Viola Davis

  • 22 February 2005

Date of birth

11th August, 1965

Occupation

Actor

Sex

1st January, 1970

Height

1.65

Why Does Viola Davis Regret Her Role In 'The Help'?

By Ed Biggs in Movies / TV / Theatre on 13 September 2018

Viola Davis

In a new interview with the New York Times, Davis said she felt that 'The Help' wasn't told properly.

Viola Davis has declared that she regrets her role in the 2011 movie The Help, despite the fact that it saw her land an Oscar nomination.

Davis played the role of Abileen Clark, one of two maids working for white families in 1963 Mississippi whose stories – and adversities in the face of racism – are told from the point of view of a white female journalist (Eugenia Phelan – played by Emma Stone).

However, some critics found the framing of the story to be problematic, with its narrative of the ‘white saviour’ obscuring the dynamics of the real story. Davis, speaking to the New York Times this week, agreed with those arguments, even though she enjoyed working on the period drama film and found the experience to be “great”.

Continue reading: Why Does Viola Davis Regret Her Role In 'The Help'?

Viola Davis seen alone and with Julius Tennon at the 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards held at Barker Hangar, Critics' Choice Awards - Santa Monica, California, United States - Monday 12th December 2016

Viola Davis and Julius Tennon seen on the red carpet at the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Microsoft Theater Los Angeles, California, United States - Sunday 18th September 2016

Viola Davis who plays Amanda Waller in 'Suicide Squad' seen at the world premiere of the movie held at the Beacon Theater in New York. 2nd August 2016

Henry Cavill Goes Undercover At Comic-Con To Prank Will Smith

By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 25 July 2016

Henry Cavill Will Smith Scott Eastwood Viola Davis

The 'Superman' actor donned a mask to walk around the convention on Saturday, fooling even ‘Suicide Squad’ star Will Smith.

Superman actor Henry Cavill went undercover at Comic-Con on Saturday (July 23) to surprise Will Smith and fellow Suicide Squad cast members Viola Davis and Scott Eastwood. The Man of Steel star also got away with walking around the convention among fans freely, thanks to a very simple disguise.

Continue reading: Henry Cavill Goes Undercover At Comic-Con To Prank Will Smith

Suicide Squad Trailer

The Suicide Squad was formed by Amanda Waller, the head of Belle Reve Penitentiary and a high ranking government official. Wishing to protect the world from deadly threats, Waller formulates a plan to reform (by force) a number of her most special inmates who all possess unique abilities.

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Viola Davis: "Jared Leto Sent A Dead Pig To 'Suicide Squad' Cast"

By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 21 February 2016

Jared Leto Viola Davis Margot Robbie

It seems that method actor Leto took his role as The Joker very seriously.

Suicide Squad actress Viola Davis has recalled her on-set introduction to co-star Jared Leto and it’s enough to make you gag. The actress stars opposite Leto in the upcoming supervillan movie and says the actor really committed to his role and had some ‘horrific’ gifts for his fellow cast members.

Viola Davis and the cast of Suicide Squad got a gag-worthy gift from co-star Jared Leto.

“The Joker, he did some bad things, Jared Leto did,” Davis told Vanity Fair. “He gave some really horrific gifts. “He had a henchman who would come into the rehearsal room and the henchman came in with a dead pig and plopped it on the table and then he walked out and that was our introduction into Jared Leto.”

Continue reading: Viola Davis: "Jared Leto Sent A Dead Pig To 'Suicide Squad' Cast"

'Game Of Thrones' And Viola Davis Make History At 67th Primetime Emmy Awards

By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 21 September 2015

Viola Davis Jon Hamm Peter Dinklage Julia Louis-Dreyfus Jeffrey Tambor Emmy Awards Frances McDormand Joan Cusack Jon Stewart

It was also a good night for ‘Mad Men’s’ Jon Hamm and comedy ‘Veep’.

Last night’s Primetime Emmy Awards saw history being made as HBO drama ‘Game Of Thrones’ took home an unprecedented 12 awards and ‘How To Get Away With Murder's' Viola Davis became the first black actress to win the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award.

Viola Davis was named outstanding lead actress in a drama series.

‘Game of Throne’s’ 12 gongs is more than any other series has won in a single year at the awards show. Among the trophies picked up by the fantasy series were, outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for Peter Dinklage and outstanding directing for a drama series going to David Nutter. The show also beat ‘Mad Men’ to scoop the outstanding drama series award.

Continue reading: 'Game Of Thrones' And Viola Davis Make History At 67th Primetime Emmy Awards

Suicide Squad - Comic Con First Look Trailer

Is it really wise to trust your most dangerous sworn enemies? Sometimes you have little choice when there are threats in the world too brutal to put your best men on. Amanda Weller is in charge of a top secret government organisation known as A.R.G.U.S. They have in their detainment some of the world's craziest psychopaths, supervillains and powerful mutants, and while they are being of no use to society stuck in prison cells, Weller introduces a brand new team known as the Suicide Squad in which these criminals can carry out seemingly impossible missions with the promise of freedom or, at least, reduced sentences. Among them are such fiends as Harley Quinn, The Joker, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Enchantress, Rick Flagg and Killer Croc - who are all willing to band together and save the world, even if they die trying.

Continue: Suicide Squad - Comic Con First Look Trailer

First 'Suicide Squad' Trailer Debuts At Comic Con And Leaves Fans Wanting More

By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 12 July 2015

Jared Leto Margot Robbie Will Smith David Ayer Cara Delevingne Jai Courtney Viola Davis

Lucky fans in attendance at San Diego's Comic-Con on Saturday got their first look at the much anticipated super-villain movie.

Suicide Squad may have another month of filming left, but that didn't stop the movie’s stars as well as director David Ayer from taking a road trip to Comic Con this weekend, to wet fan’s appetites for the highly anticipated super-villain flick.

Image caption Davis grew up dealing with always being hungry

During an emotional new interview with Glamour magazine, the 49-year-old actress opened up about her turbulent youth, growing up in near-poverty and her battle with childhood hunger on a regular basis.

Continue reading: Viola Davis Recalls Childhood Battle To Find Food: "I Was Always Hungry"

Blackhat Review

By Rich Cline

Good

Michael Mann doesn't make standard frantic-pace thrillers (see Heat and Public Enemies); he prefers to work at a more controlled stride, so while this hacking adventure-mystery is intriguing it also feels a bit plodding. Yes, the film erupts now and then into a viscerally exhilarating action sequence, including a couple of astonishing shootouts, but over the course of two and a quarter hours it barely builds up a head of steam. And it's further frustrating that the intriguing characters never quite emerge as real people.

It opens with a cyberattack on a Chinese nuclear power plant, after which Captain Chen (Wang Leehom) heads to America to consult with FBI Agent Barrett (Viola Davis), urging her to get the one man who can solve this case: Chen's former MIT roommate Nick (Chris Hemsworth), now serving 13 years in prison for hacking. On supervised release, Nick heads to Hong Kong with Chen and Barrett, plus a minder (Holt McCallany) and Chen's computer-whiz sister Lien (Tang Wei), who immediately catches Nick's eye. As they secretly begin falling for each other, Nick indulges in a lot of illicit computer work to trace the attack to ruthless thug Kassar (Ritchie Coster) and his shadowy boss Sadak (Yorick van Wageningen). But they're based in Jakarta, and the FBI has no jurisdiction there.

Aside from some cheesy inside-the-computer animation, Mann makes the film look sleek and stylish, dropping clues into each scene to fill in the bigger picture about what is happening. And when an action set-piece breaks out, the film becomes urgent and gritty, with handheld camerawork and a breathless sense of peril that suggests that no one is safe. On the other hand, the script asks us to believe that Hemsworth's imprisoned computer geek can suddenly become a full-on action man, with astonishing gun-handling skills, the muscly precision of a Hollywood stunt man and the ability to out-strategise both spies and super-villains in a massive climactic showdown in a crowded city square.

Continue reading: Blackhat Review

Blackhat Trailer

When an unnamed hacker begins to steal money from wherever he wants, he turns his attention on acts of terror. After the destruction of a Chinese power plant, a collaboration of American and Chinese agencies begin trying to find just who this person is. They finally hit on the idea of bringing convicted hacker Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) out of his 15-year-jail time, in order to help them track down the illusive boogieman. But as he is always one step ahead of them, it seems that even Hathaway's help will not result in them catching their crook.

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Viola Davis Tuesday 14th February 2012 arrive at the Ed Sullivan Theater for 'The Late Show with David Letterman'