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I did want to mark the fact that it was the first African-American to win the Lead Actress category.I thought it was so progressive.

Viola Davis

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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
First
Mark
Lead
Winning
Category
American
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Actress
Facts
Progressive
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African
Firsts
Actresses

More quotes by Viola Davis

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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.
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And this is what was fascinating to me about 'The Help' they were ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
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I've always seen myself for who I am, which is a lot of things.
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Sometimes you take a job for the money, sometimes you take it for the location, sometimes you take it for the script there are just a number of reasons, and ultimately what you see is the whole landscape of it. But I can tell you from behind the scenes - that's what it is, as an actor.
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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.
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All you really need to do is shift people just a tiny bit for change to happen. It doesn't have to be huge and humongous.
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I think that's something that people feel that I do really well I don't mind it, because ultimately I think the characters I play move people, and who wouldn't want to move people?
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Every artist, true artist, struggles with an overwhelming sense of feeling like you're not worthy.
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I don't think most people understand acting, even the people who call themselves savvy, even actors.
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I've always seen myself for who I am, which is a lot of things. So, I guess that when I walk into a room, I bring all those things to a role, and I've always just simply seen myself as an actor.
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It's time for people to see us, people of colour, for what we really are: complicated.
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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.
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I can't speak for the Kathryn Stockett, but I would guess that she feels proud of the progress the South has made because, growing up, she experienced a very different Mississippi than the one that exists today.
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Creativity only resonates if you infuse real life into the work.
Viola Davis
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If the opportunity is not out there for you to play it, then you don't see it.
Viola Davis
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It would be great to bust through and make history. But what's more important is the opportunity to continue to get roles that are complicated and wonderful, to be a part of the narrative and to get to do what our counterparts are able to do. It doesn't just stop at holding an award.
Viola Davis
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I just look at women sometimes and I just want to ask them, Do you know how fabulous you are?
Viola Davis
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I am not a morning person, but I always work out - always.
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The world is very good at encouraging you to go along with the status quo and at basking in your successes. But when you hit a wall in your personal life, and you screw up, people don't give you a chance to navigate your way through it and tap into what's extraordinary about you.
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[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