Biography
Viola Davis (/vaɪˈoʊlə/ vy-OH-lə; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and film producer. Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century (2020). Davis received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2025. A graduate of Juilliard, Davis began her career in Central Falls, Rhode Island, appearing in small sta...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Children of Blood and Bone
2027
as Mama Agba
Zelie and her older brother Tzain form an alliance with the king’s daughter, Princess Amari, and son, Prince Inan, to fight back against his brutal ru...

G20
2025
as President Danielle Sutton
After the G20 Summit is overtaken by terrorists, President Danielle Sutton must bring all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family ...

G20
2025
Producer
After the G20 Summit is overtaken by terrorists, President Danielle Sutton must bring all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family ...
The Ebony Canal: A Story of Black Infant Mortality
2025
as Narration
Narrated by Viola Davis, The Ebony Canal is a documentary that delves into the disparities of infant mortality among Black women, weaving together pow...

Kung Fu Panda 4
2024
as The Chameleon (voice)
Po is gearing up to become the spiritual leader of his Valley of Peace, but also needs someone to take his place as Dragon Warrior. As such, he will t...

Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2024
as Self (Dr. Volumnia Gaul)
Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a feature-length documentary film about the making of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Son...

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
2023
as Dr. Volumnia Gaul
64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird, ...

Silver Dollar Road
2023
Executive Producer
The story of the Reels family who are valiantly attempting to protect the land their family bought one generation after slavery. This documentary, bas...

Air
2023
as Deloris Jordan
Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the wo...

Black Adam
2022
as Amanda Waller (uncredited)
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam is freed from his ear...

The Woman King
2022
as Nanisca
The story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike...

The Woman King
2022
Producer
The story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike...

Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event
2022
as Self
In this special event, Oprah Winfrey sits down with actor Viola Davis for an interview about her memoir, "Finding Me."

The Unforgivable
2021
as Liz Ingram
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.

The Suicide Squad
2021
as Amanda Waller
Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker and a collection of nutty cons at Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X...

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2020
as Ma Rainey
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.

Giving Voice
2020
as Self
Every year, thousands of high schoolers enter the August Wilson monologue competition for a chance to perform on Broadway. This film follows these stu...

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2019
as Florida Evans
Live performances of classic holiday-themed episodes from Norman Lear's hit shows "All in the Family" and "Good Times."

On Broadway
2019
as Self (archive footage)
An all-star cast tells the inside story of the Broadway theater, and how it came back from the brink thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inc...

Emanuel
2019
Executive Producer
On June 17th, 2015, 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof walked into a bible study and murdered nine African Americans during their closing praye...

A Touch of Sugar
2019
as Narrator
A Touch of Sugar dives into the diabetes healthcare epidemic that affects every community in the United States, told through the voices of people unit...

Troop Zero
2019
as Miss Rayleen
In rural 1977 Georgia, a misfit girl dreams of life in outer space. When a national competition offers her a chance at her dream, to be recorded on NA...

Troop Zero
2019
Producer
In rural 1977 Georgia, a misfit girl dreams of life in outer space. When a national competition offers her a chance at her dream, to be recorded on NA...

Widows
2018
as Veronica Rawlings
A police shootout leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows have nothing in common except a debt lef...

Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018
as Self (archive footage)
Examine the rise and fall of Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein following the scandal in 2017. Learn from exclusive interviews with those who knew...

Night Shift
2017
Executive Producer
Ollie Jeffries is an on-again, off-again actor. His long term gig as a bathroom attendant on this one night, forces Ollie to face a reality he’s not y...

Fences
2016
as Rose Maxson
In 1950s Pittsburgh, a frustrated African-American father struggles with the constraints of poverty, racism, and his own inner demons as he tries to r...

Suicide Squad
2016
as Amanda Waller
From DC Comics comes the Suicide Squad, an antihero team of incarcerated supervillains who act as deniable assets for the United States government, un...

Custody
2016
as Martha Schulman
When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law sc...

Lila & Eve
2015
as Lila Walcott
Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own h...

August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015
as Self
Unprecedented access to Wilson’s theatrical archives, rarely seen interviews and new dramatic readings bring to life his seminal 10-play cycle chronic...

Blackhat
2015
as Carol Barrett
Nicholas Hathaway, a furloughed convict, and his American and Chinese partners hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hon...

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may ...

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
Told from the man's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be...

Get on Up
2014
as Susie Brown
A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
2014
as Professor Lillian Friedman
A New York couple's relationship is tested after the loss of their child. This film is the wide-released combination of the original two :him and :her...

Ender's Game
2013
as Major Gwen Anderson
Based on the classic novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is the story of the Earth's most gifted children training to defend their homeplanet in t...

Prisoners
2013
as Nancy Birch
Keller Dover is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minute...

Love, Marilyn
2013
as Self
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote ...

Beautiful Creatures
2013
as Amma Treadeau
Ethan Wate just wants to get to know Lena Duchannes better, but unbeknownst to him, Lena has strange powers. As Lena's 16th birthday approaches she m...

Won't Back Down
2012
as Nona Alberts
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission t...

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
2011
as Abby Black
A year after his father's death, Oskar, a troubled young boy, discovers a mysterious key he believes was left for him by his father and embarks on a s...

Touch of Evil
2011
as The Vengeful Caretaker
Some of 2011's stand-out film actors appear in "a video gallery of cinematic villainy" for New York Times Magazine.

The Help
2011
as Aibileen Clark
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson ...

It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010
as Dr. Eden Minerva
A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.

Trust
2010
as Gail Friedman
A suburban family is torn apart when fourteen-year-old Annie meets her first boyfriend online. After months of communicating via online chat and phone...

Eat Pray Love
2010
as Delia Shiraz
Liz Gilbert had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having – a husband, a house and a successful career – yet like so many others, she f...

Knight and Day
2010
as CIA Director Isabel George
A fugitive couple goes on a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure where nothing and no one – even themselves – are what they seem. Amid shifting al...

Beyond All Boundaries
2009
as Hortense Johnson
A visual, 4-D experience of the battles of World War II featuring stories, archival footage and advanced special effects.

Law Abiding Citizen
2009
as Mayor April Henry
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer...

State of Play
2009
as Dr. Judith Franklin
When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.

Doubt: Stage to Screen
2009
as Self
A look at how the cast and crew brought "Doubt" from the stage to the screen.

Madea Goes to Jail
2009
as Ellen
After a high-speed car chase, Madea winds up behind bars because her quick temper gets the best of her. Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Josh Ha...

Doubt
2008
as Mrs. Miller
In 1964 Bronx, two Catholic school nuns question the new priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled African-American student.

Nights in Rodanthe
2008
as Jean
Adrienne is trying to decide whether to stay in her unhappy marriage or not, and her life changes when Paul, a doctor who is travelling to reconcile w...

Jesse Stone: Sea Change
2007
as Molly Crane
Police Chief Jesse Stone's relationship with his ex-wife worsens, and he fears he's relapsing into alcoholism. To get his mind off his problems, Jesse...

Disturbia
2007
as Detective Parker
Kale has a life most teenagers would envy. He spends his days endlessly playing video games, surfing the net, eating junk food and watching cable. He ...

The Architect
2006
as Tonya Neely
An architect engages in conflict with an activist who lives in a dangerous complex the architect designed.

Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story
2006
as Diane Barrino
A single mother’s American Idol audition helps her rise above a history of poverty, sexual abuse, and illiteracy to achieve national prominence.

World Trade Center
2006
as Mother in Hospital
Two police officers struggle to survive when they become trapped beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as Tonya (segment "King Hedley II")
The Great White Way comes into your living room via this disc of rare performances from some of Broadway's brightest luminaries. Culled from clips fro...

Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise
2006
as Molly Crane
When Jesse Stone looks into the murder of a teen-age girl whose body is found floating in a local lake, it brings him up against the Boston mob and in...

Jesse Stone: Night Passage
2006
as Officer Molly Crane
A prequel to "Stone Cold", the story picks up after Jesse Stone is fired from the Los Angeles Police Department. He becomes an unlikely candidate recr...

Syriana
2005
as CIA Chairwoman
The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer...

Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2005
as Grandma
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.

Stone Cold
2005
as Molly Crane
Jesse Stone is a former L.A. homicide detective who left behind the big city and an ex-wife to become the police chief of the quiet New England fishin...

Antwone Fisher
2002
as Eva May
A sailor prone to violent outbursts is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and r...

Solaris
2002
as Gordon
A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet.

Far from Heaven
2002
as Sybil
In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife's life is upended by a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in society.

Kate & Leopold
2001
as Policewoman
When her scientist ex-boyfriend discovers a portal to travel through time -- and brings back a 19th-century nobleman named Leopold to prove it -- a sk...

Ocean's Eleven
2001
as Parole Board Interrogator (voice) (uncredited)
Less than 24 hours into his parole, charismatic thief Danny Ocean is already rolling out his next plan: In one night, Danny's hand-picked crew of spec...

The Shrink Is In
2001
as Robin
A young woman impersonates a shrink to win over her Prince Charming.

Amy & Isabelle
2001
as Dottie
In 1971, in the small town of Shirley Falls, in Maine, the odd and lonely secretary Isabelle Goodrow raises her teenager daughter Amy alone. She has o...

Traffic
2000
as Social Worker
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Poli...

Grace & Glorie
1998
as Rosemary Allbright
When a lonely ex-New Yorker moves into the home of a rural senior to act as a hospice worker, the two initially couldn't seem to be less alike. Howeve...

Out of Sight
1998
as Moselle
Meet Jack Foley, a smooth criminal who bends the law and is determined to make one last heist. Karen Sisco is a federal marshal who chooses all the ri...

The Pentagon Wars
1998
as Sgt. Fanning
From the director of “Made In America” and “The Money Pit” comes a hilarious look at one of the most expensive blunders in military history. Over 17 y...
Miss Apprehension and Squirt
1998
as Sharon Hughes
Film directed by Daniel Nemet-Nejat

The Substance of Fire
1996
as Nurse
Isaac Geldhart is a Holocaust survivor who, overcome by grief at the recent death of his wife, seems determined to run his publishing firm into the gr...

Operation Othello
N/A
as Narrator
A futuristic adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello set in the world of an elite naval special force's unit.
Two Butterflies
N/A
Follows two estranged sisters who are torn apart by tragedy and forced to reunite when one sister must be transported to an Alzheimer’s facility.
I Almost Forgot About You
N/A
as Dr. Georgia Young
Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful life—great friends, family, and successful career—aren't enough to keep her from feeling stuck and restless. When she de...
Small Great Things
N/A
The story follows a labor and delivery nurse who cares for newborns at a hospital in Connecticut who’s ordered not touch the baby belonging to a white...
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
N/A
as Rachel Dupree
Set during the early 1900s in South Dakota, Rachel and Isaac Dupree, an African American couple, raise their family on an isolated ranch in the Badlan...
Ally Clark
N/A
as Ally Clark
The marble halls of Washington, D.C. to the sweltering bayous of Louisiana and the icy peaks of Alaska, following investigator Ally Clark as she embar...
House of Games
N/A
A reimagining of the 1987 MGM feature film of the same name.

Operation Othello
N/A
Executive Producer
A futuristic adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello set in the world of an elite naval special force's unit.
Ally Clark
N/A
Producer
The marble halls of Washington, D.C. to the sweltering bayous of Louisiana and the icy peaks of Alaska, following investigator Ally Clark as she embar...
House of Games
N/A
Producer
A reimagining of the 1987 MGM feature film of the same name.