Viola Davis Trivia | 60 facts about the actress

Viola Davis is a succesfull actress, who is the sole African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.

Let’s find out more about the actress!

1. Viola Davis was born on August 11th 1965.
2. She is an American actress and producer.
3. Viola Davis is one of the few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT).
4. Additionally, she is the sole African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
5. She’s the third person to achieve both statuses.
6. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017.
7. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
8. She’s one of three African-American actresses to be nominated for an Academy Award in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.
9. Is the first black actress to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How to get away with murder(2014).
10. Has an adoptive daughter: Genesis Tennon (b. July 10, 2010) with husband, Julius Tennon.
11. Is one of five actresses to receive an Oscar nomination for a performance with less than 10 minutes of screen time.
12. Daughter of Mae Alice (Logan) and Dan Davis, both originally of South Carolina. Dan was a horse-groomer for the Narragansett and Lincoln Downs racetracks in Rhode Island.
13. As of 2017, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
14. Attended and graduated from Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island (1988), where she majored in theater. She later received an honorary degree in Fine Arts from the college (2002).
15. Is one of 10 African-American actresses to be Oscar-nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
16. Counts Cicely Tyson’s Emmy-winning performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974) as a pivotal moment in her life when she ultimately understood how acting could be such a transformative craft.
17. Named Glamour magazine’s Film Actress of the Year (2012).
18. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World (2012).
19. After her graduation from Rhode Island College, she attended the Juilliard School in New York City for four years, and was a member of the school Drama Division “Group 22” (1989-1993).
20. With her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences (2016), Viola Davis became the first black woman to have won a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar for acting. Whoopi Goldberg not only has all three awards; she also has a Grammy (making her one of the few “EGOT” honorees, someone who has won all four awards)–but Goldberg won her Tony Award for producing the Broadway show “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (1999-2003).
21. Is one of only nine actors to have won both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role on stage and film.
22. Won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in “Fences” (2010).
23. As of 2018, she is one of three women who have won both the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (hers being for Fences (2016)) and the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy (hers being for How to get away with murder (2014)). The others are Patricia Arquette and Allison Janney.
24. In 2017, Davis became the 25th performer (and first African-American actress) to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony).
25. She won the 2001 Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony Award for “King Hedley II” and the 2010 Best Leading Actress in a Play Tony Award for “Fences”, the 2015 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy Award for How to get away with murder (2014), and the 2017 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Femces (2016).
26. Inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on June 30, 2009.
27. In 2012, Davis told Entertainment Weekly that she and her husband stayed at George Clooney’s Italian estate on Lake Como for their honeymoon.
28. Won Broadway’s 2001 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role – Play) for August Wilson’s “King Hedley II”. She had previously been nominated in the same category in 1996 for another Wilson play, “Seven Guitars”.
29. Shared the cover of Vanity Fair magazine’s 2016 Hollywood issue with, Jane Fonda, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlotte Rampling, Rachel Weisz, Lupita Nyong’o, Brie Larson, Alicia Vikander, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Helen Mirren, Diane Keaton and Saoirse Ronan. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz.
30. Is one of seven African-American actresses to have won an acting Oscar in a competitive category.
31. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7013 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 5, 2017.
32. She was the first black woman to receive three Academy Award nominations. Octavia Spencer (in 2017, also for acting) and Ruth E. Carter (in 2018, for costume design) followed.
33. Given the choice, she prefers the stage to film acting.
34. Grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Her family moved there when she was 2-months old.
35. Viola Davis won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the role of Rose Maxon in “Fences” (in the 2010 Broadway revival of the play and the 2016 film adaptation, respectively). In the original 1987 Broadway production of the play, the role of Rose was originated by the actress Mary Alice–which was also the name of Viola Davis’s mother.
36. Returned to work 4 months after adopting her daughter Genesis to begin filming Enders Game (2013).
37. Won the 2005 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for “Intimate Apparel” (2004).
38. Friends with Octavia Spencer Meryl Streep, and Denzel Washington.
39. As of 2021, she is the most nominated black actress in Academy Awards’ history, with 4 nominations.
40. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Doubt (2008), Best Leading Actress in The Help (2011), Best Supporting Actress in Fences (2016) and Best Actress in Ma Reiny’s Black Bottom (2020).
41. She has won for Fences (2016).
42. “JuVee Productions” is the company she heads with husband Julius Ju(lius)V(iola).
43. She was awarded the 2004 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play for “Intimate Apparel” in association with Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
44. Oprah Winfrey and beau Stedman Graham attended her ‘third’ marriage to Julius.
45. She was awarded the 2004 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Lead Performance for “Intimate Apparel” in association with Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
46. She was awarded for the 2004 Back Stage Garland Award for Outstanding Performance for “Intimate Apparel” in association with Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
47. She was awarded the 1996 Drama Logue Award for Performance for “Seven Guitars” at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
48. She was awarded for a 2001 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for “King Hedley II” on Broadway in New York City.
49. She was awarded for a 2001 New York Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for “King Hedley II” on Broadway in New York City.
50. She was nominated for the 1996 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for “Seven Guitars” on Broadway in New York City.
51. Though she earned an Oscar nomination for it, she said in an NYT interview that she regrets doing the role of Aibileen Clark in The Help.
52. Second cousin of Mike Colter. Her maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother were siblings.
53. In 2023, she won the Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording for her autobiography ‘Finding Me’. This achievement made her the 18th person to achieve EGOT status. Additionally, she is one of three thespians to have achieved both the Triple Crown of Acting and the EGOT, the others being Helen Hayes and Rita Moreno.
54. She was awarded for a 2001 New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for “King Hedley II” on Broadway in New York City.
55. Was the 147th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences (2016) at Oscars on February 26, 2017.
56. Has a sister Deloris.
57. One of only 18 individuals who are “EGOT”s, meaning having received at least one of all of the four major entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony, competitively.
58. Born on the same date as Embeth Davidtz.
59. Viola Davis is the tenth performer to win the Tony Award and the Oscar for the same role, winning for “Fences” (Tony in 2010, Oscar in 2017).
60. Sister of Diane Davis, Anita Davis, Danielle Davis, and John Davis and aunt of Derek, Warren, Tiana, and Daryn.