Viola Davis’ life story is certainly inspirational. After growing up in a small town in South Carolina in abject poverty, she graduated from Juilliard School and became an acclaimed theater, film, and television actress. Davis is celebrated for her consistently compelling, if not mesmerizing, performances. Her portrayals of Mrs. Miller in Doubt (2008), the housemaid Aibileen Clark in The Help (2011), and the blues singer Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) were all met with Academy Award nominations. And of course Davis’ took home a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her moving portrayal of Rose Lee Maxson in the film version of Fences (2016).
But beyond Viola’s many accomplishments, she is an inspirational voice in the entertainment industry — humble, strong, and full of reverence for the craft of acting. Here are some of Viola’s words of wisdom for the developing actor.
The Self
“I would tell my younger self: ‘Just be yourself—that who you are is good enough.’”
“You can’t be hesitant about who you are.”
“Acting, it’s the disappearance of self—disappearance of your own needs and your own wants—and [a] kind of embracing of the character that makes it work.”
“Your ability to adapt to failure and navigate your way out of it, absolutely, one hundred percent, makes you who you are.”
On Finding Acting Opportunities After Acting School
“My journey as an actor came from me just wanting to do something — wanting to get out, wanting to be great at something, wanting to do the great works of Arthur Miller and Shakespeare and Chekov and all of that. So I went to acting school and I just wanted everyone else to think that I was great, so whatever they told me to do, I did and I perfected… And then when I got out of school, I just needed to work because I hadn’t done anything. If you haven’t done anything, let me tell you something; most people will say, ‘Just go out there and do it!’ And it’s true, absolutely true. But more than likely, it’s going to be hard.”
“I’ve been to acting school, and I think that at the end of the day when you just focus on the work, and you’re comfortable with who you are, that at some point someone’s going to recognize your talent and give you an opportunity.”
“You’re looking at a profession where less than one percent of the people make $50 grand a year or more. Less than one percent. The rest—most of them—can’t even make enough to make health insurance… But what happens when you love [acting], and you keep doing it and doing it, and God intervenes, and all of a sudden you take off? That’s when your s*** has got to kick in! That’s when you have to be the artist and the person that you always wanted to be. That’s when you have to find a voice that separates you from the rest.”
Viola on Process
You gotta say ‘yes’ to your partner.
“I have a process… hopefully other people do too… But one of the things that I do when I collaborate is, whatever the other actor gives me, I use. I don’t go home and prepare a performance and then come to the set and use that performance that I prepared at home. Whatever I work with at home, I only take it to a certain extent. And then when I go on stage, I prepare myself for the fact that the other actor may give me something completely different.
Because what has happened in the past, and I see with other actors, they’ll tell another actor how to act. And the reason why they do that is because they’ve already planned what they want to do. And that other actor, whatever they’re giving them, is interfering with that. That’s not how it works! You gotta say ‘yes’ to your partner. If they’re giving you a line in a certain way, guess what? You gotta get up off your ‘A-double-snakes’ and use that. That’s my process of collaboration.”
Freefall with your acting
“I read [the script] over and over and over again. Just to find out, in actors’ terms, ‘the given circumstances’ — who you are, what people say about you… And then I write a bio of the character. I try to fill it up as much as possible. What are her memories? Does she have brothers and sisters? What secrets does she have? What’s her favorite color? I do all of that work first. The character is always ever-evolving, just like we evolve based on circumstances that happen to us. There could be things that happen where we absolutely know how it’s going to affect you, but you really don’t know how it’s going to affect you and how it will make you veer off course at any given time.
So whatever prep work you do, the next work you have to do: Leave yourself alone. You leave yourself absolutely alone. And know that there could be something that happens that might be totally out of character, whatever the reaction will be, in any given scene. Also—and actors won’t admit this—but also, whatever you’ve prepared could be wrong. There could be something that really does surprise you… Another actor might give you a certain line in a certain way, and you surprise yourself in your reaction, and you think, ‘Wow, that’s interesting. I never thought of that when I was preparing the character. But it’s interesting.’ It’s those jewels you get when you just freefall with your acting.”
Acting is about exposing
“In acting, when you create a character, you can’t judge a character. That’s the number one thing you cannot do when you create. So you can’t judge a character, and you can’t create a character to be likable. It’s about being private and public. So think about all the things you do in your life privately—all the things that you have done that nobody knows about. If someone were to play you, in your life, with all those private moments—imagine if they filtered all of it out because they wanted it to be pretty and likable. It’s very very important that we tell the truth as much as possible in our art because I think it makes people feel less alone… Acting is about exposing. It’s about taking off the mask.”
“Acting is not rocket science, but it is an art form. What you are doing is illuminating humanity.”
“The higher purpose of my life is not the song and dance or the acclaim, but to rise up, to pull up others, and leave the world and industry a better place.”
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