Quote

I've been in this business 25 years. I've been eking out a living doing Broadway, off-Broadway... I've seen the unemployment line a lot.

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
Seen
Living
Business
Years
Unemployment
Broadway
Line
Lines

More quotes by Viola Davis

Image
But the biggest beauty advice I've given my daughter is every morning I say, Genesis, what are the two best parts of you? And she says my brain and my heart. And I say, You've gotta remember that, Genesis. You've gotta remember that you're not what you look like, you know? I think that's the best beauty advice I could give her.
Viola Davis
Image
Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that's inside of you.
Viola Davis
Image
I really wanted to show [in fences] a marriage that is working. Not perfect, but working.
Viola Davis
Image
My husband [Julius Tennon] and I started a production company. We've already optioned a book and some scripts to do exactly that, to create more complicated, multi-faceted roles for African-Americans, especially African-American females. I think it's important.
Viola Davis
Image
I love Wal-Mart. You can put that down. I love Wal-Mart. My husband and I hang out there.
Viola Davis
Image
Even when I go shopping, I don't shop as a woman. The only time I shop is when I need something, and I'm in and out in less than 30 minutes, so I have no energy to look at 50 million gowns and styles and make sketches and think about heels. I'm not girly in that way. I'm relying on the stylist to do 99 percent of the work.
Viola Davis
Image
I think at the end of the day she [Rose from Fences] is a strong woman in the truest sense of the word. I think all of that is in the narrative it's already there. The hope is there the playfulness is there it's there. I wish I could take credit for it, but it's there.
Viola Davis
Image
[Meryl Streep] just sent me an email, and I was like, That's perfect. She was like, Yes, Viola, now that you've just had your vow renewal...this is the best part of your life now. There's not anything that you don't know anymore in terms of what's good and bad out there, so now you can just fly. She's always imparting wisdom like that.
Viola Davis
Image
I don’t want anyone putting any limits on me.
Viola Davis
Image
I needed to make my wig ogg because I no longer wanted to apologize for who I am
Viola Davis
Image
Lloyd Richards is another director who was like that, who was a teacher.
Viola Davis
Image
I am the mother of a 6-year-old now, so that's changed my entire perspective.
Viola Davis
Image
Even when I get the fried-chicken special of the day, I have to dig into it like it's filet mignon.
Viola Davis
Image
To me, it's always a luxury to be able to work with the best of the best because they make it easier for you to do what you do.
Viola Davis
Image
I just look at women sometimes and I just want to ask them, Do you know how fabulous you are?
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
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
When I go home, I am a slug. I want to do everything completely opposite of what I do on the red carpet. I like to take off all my makeup, put on a t-shirt, be completely unassuming and just do stuff with my husband and my daughter.
Viola Davis
Image
Ordinary people who are just kind of just going about their lives are transformed into heroes because they have the courage to put their voices out there. And I think that's a powerful message in this time of political strife.
Viola Davis
Image
[I listen to] Uptown Funk, Bruno Mars, sometimes even Nina Simone and Adele. Whatever comes up, whatever floats my boat, whatever makes me tap into something in me to just decompress - I listen to that.
Viola Davis