The Life of Viola Davis

Brut America

She grew up in rat-infested, condemned apartments — but from a young age she had a dream. Now, she's the first black actress to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony. This is the story of Viola Davis.

Transcript

00:00I grew up in poverty, you know I grew up in apartments that were condemned and

00:07rat-infested, and I just always sort of wanted to be somebody, and I just wanted

00:16to be good at something.

00:31Do you think of yourself as a leader now?

00:35Yes I do, and I didn't before. I resisted it in myself because I happened to be a

00:39very shy person. Sometimes I could be very timid.

01:00Music

01:20Every time I look at the little girl I always thought, oh it's a cute outfit, but

01:25she was always hungry, she was always shy, she was always kind of in the background,

01:30but inside she had big dreams bursting.

01:55Music

02:13I want to be a great example for my daughter, I really do. I want to be a

02:17great example of passion, of hard work, of love, and always understanding.

02:47Music

03:06Every member of our staff is represented by a person of color, by the LGBTQ

03:12community. Every single narrative that comes through our doors that we accept

03:17have people of color, women are at the forefront of just about every project.

03:25Music

03:37It's important to me at this point in my maturity to just embrace who I am. I think

03:45that it's important at this point in my life to live an authentic life. I think that if

03:53you probably interviewed a lot of people who were towards the end of their lives, I think

03:58that that's what they would say, that they wish that they had lived their lives more

04:01authentically, and this is a part of it, wearing my hair.

04:05Music

04:24It's fabulous that she's mysterious, it's fabulous that she's messy, it's fabulous that

04:28she's sexy, it's fabulous that she's a mature woman over 40, because those are all adjectives

04:34that don't usually pertain to women of color.

04:38Music

04:44I feel great as a woman. I feel like I'm at a point where I'm owning my power, I'm owning

04:49my story, I'm owning my beauty, I'm owning my joy, I'm owning my hard work. I'm standing

05:00in front of people and I can say that I'm not the best of anything, but I deserve whatever

05:05I get because I've worked hard for it, and so I feel wonderful.

05:11Music

05:20It is through human dedication and effort that we move forward.

05:27Applause

05:31And then when we don't work, what happens is that time actually becomes an ally to the

05:40primitive forces of social stagnation.

05:43Music

05:54I just feel like the narratives that are created in Hollywood right now have got to

05:59become inclusive. They have got to reflect the changing world and the changing cultures.

06:07Music

Category

Transcript

Recommended