Quote

I have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish.

Viola Davis

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Viola Davis
Age: 59
Born: 1965
Born: August 11
Actress
Film Actor
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Television Producer
St. Matthews
South Carolina
La Viola Davis
Downtrodden
Roles
Given
Mammy

More quotes by Viola Davis

Image
It's always hard to be private in public, which is what acting is because you have to do thing really emotionally naked.
Viola Davis
Image
I don’t want anyone putting any limits on me.
Viola Davis
Image
And classically not beautiful is a fancy term for saying ugly. And denouncing you. And erasing you.
Viola Davis
Image
I think that enjoying the fruits of one's labor is very different than arrogance. And when I was younger, I didn't know the difference. I thought that if you were gracious, that meant that you somehow were getting ahead of yourself. And I felt self-deprecation kept you balanced.
Viola Davis
Image
[Denzel Washington] was rustling with something and when he came back it was with a word about loving myself and the body that I'm in because I was still going on and on about the weight thing. I just liked that, because what people don't understand is that so much of what blocks us as actors is so personal.
Viola Davis
Image
When a director can give you a word that allows you to feel less tense about yourself, to make you feel like you indeed are good enough before you even get to the work, you can't ask for anything more than that.
Viola Davis
Image
I think that I'm coming off as the biggest alcoholic in the world.
Viola Davis
Image
It made me realize again how complicated being a mother is. You have 50 million heartbreaking moments, and 100 million beautiful, joyous ones.
Viola Davis
Image
Anything can be achieved with a good, healthy dose of courage.
Viola Davis
Image
Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that's inside of you.
Viola Davis
Image
We know the road of lack of recognition, of people telling us that we can't headline a movie because black women don't translate overseas, that every time we try to break the glass ceiling, people say no, people push back. And it's everything that people don't see out there.
Viola Davis
Image
If you're a boxer, you want to get the ring with a Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali type. When you're acting, you want to get in with Meryl Streep, and that's what I did.
Viola Davis
Image
I just hope this [Emmy] is now a part of the status quo that women of color are included in the narratives that continue to write lead roles for us.
Viola Davis
Image
I've always seen myself for who I am, which is a lot of things.
Viola Davis
Image
I don't have any time to stay up all night worrying about what someone who doesn't love me has to say about me.
Viola Davis
Image
Self-deprecation is not an answer to keeping one's balance. I think that it's very damaging.
Viola Davis
Image
At the end of the day, nobody can tell you how to tackle failure or how to handle change. The world is very good at encouraging you to go along with the status quo and at basking in your successes.
Viola Davis
Image
I've always just simply seen myself as an actor. And I believe that it serves me well to just think in terms of my craft. If hypothetically, I saw myself only as a sex symbol, or as some other limited stereotype, I think I would feel like a complete failure.
Viola Davis
Image
That's how I digest it, 'cause I can press the fast-forward button and I know that I'm gonna have to continue to be an actor, continue to make choices, continue to perform in a show every week.
Viola Davis
Image
You absolutely feel, as a black actress, that you've got to ride the wave because there's just so few roles. I hate to play that card, but it's the truth. There's not a lot of roles.
Viola Davis