Viola Davis
I tell my daughter every morning, 'Now, what are the two most important parts of you?' And she says, 'My head and my heart.' Because that's what I've learned in the foxhole: What gets you through life is strength of character and strength of spirit and love.Collection: Morning
The more I'm pushed in a position of leadership and I know I have to be the mouthpiece for so many other people who can't speak for themselves, the more confidence I'm gaining.Collection: Leadership
I'm in the business of creating human beings.Collection: Business
People who are alone all the time never grow. Those hermits just stay the same. It's only through relationships. Relationships change us and make us grow.Collection: Alone
When you're poor, you are invisible. Every poor person will tell you nobody sees you. So being famous was me just wanting to be seen.Collection: Famous
The only thing that separates women of color from everyone else is opportunity.Collection: Women
The predator wants your silence. It feeds their power, entitlement, and they want it to feed your shame.Collection: Power
Acting is not rocket science, but it is an art form. What you are doing is illuminating humanity. Or not.Collection: Science
I stumbled onto the best profession to heal my childhood: the only one that lets you release and express whatever is ugly and messy and beautiful about your life. We're in the business of creating human beings. The more we spew, and the more honestly we do it, the better. Try that on Wall Street.Collection: Business
You want to be able to really tackle a character and make it a fully-dimensional human being who is complicated, funny, and all the things that a person could be. If you can achieve that, you feel great. You so rarely get to do that as an actress in general, but as a black actress, it's almost never.Collection: Funny
The reason I became an actress is because I wanted my acting to reflect life as it is. I want to put truth on the screen. I want real women to see real women on the screen.Collection: Women
I always talk to all the crew. I always make it pleasant. I always nurture a relationship that makes people feel like they're important, like they're a part of the collaboration. I feel that way about the young actors on set. I don't talk to them like I'm the mentor; I talk to them like they're my peers. And I learned that from Meryl Streep.Collection: Relationship
The only picture I have of my childhood is the picture of me in kindergarten. I have this expression on my face - it's not a smile, it's not a frown. I swear to you, that's the girl who wakes up in the morning and who looks around her house and her life saying, 'I cannot believe how God has blessed me.'Collection: Morning
I didn't see myself any different from my white counterparts in school. I just didn't! I thought I could do what they did. And what I didn't do well, I thought people were going to give me the opportunity to do well, because maybe they saw my talent, so they would give me a chance. I had no idea that they would see me completely different.Collection: Chance
I do believe that there are African Americans who have thick accents. My mom has a thick accent; my relatives have thick accents. But sometimes you have to adjust when you go into the world of film, TV, theatre, in order to make it accessible to people.Collection: Mom
Your ability to adapt to failure, and navigate your way out of it, absolutely 100 percent makes you who you are.Collection: Failure
There's no prerequisites to worthiness. You're born worthy, and I think that's a message a lot of women need to hear.Collection: Women
People don't understand that when you come into any theatrical experience, you've got to come locked and loaded, that you're a part of the experience, too. You can't come with your arms crossed. Be open to it.Collection: Experience
I have been down and out, living in Brooklyn, no money even for a subway, no food whatsoever. Like, I remember just sitting in my room all day - even my television wasn't working!Collection: Food
There's got to be a voice deep within you that is untouched by definitions. And it is there that you become divinely who you are.
I know that love is real when it's not convenient, when it's not selfish, when it's challenged, sometimes even if it's not reciprocated.
I truly believe that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
What excites me is just taking some time to breathe in life. The mundane is very exciting.
We have to stop thinking about diversity and start thinking about inclusion. That's what you can take from August Wilson. That there are whole cultures out there living experiences exactly like yours, and their stories can be just as dynamic, sold in the foreign market, put as many butts in the seats as any Caucasian movie out there.
I don't know how I got a great husband. I mean, God just blessed me with that one. Because - trust me - before him, I was not making good choices. So I was just absolutely blessed. I just prayed for that man He's my secret weapon because he's so gregarious, and he's so filled with joy. Me? I can sometimes be more cynical, and I'm very shy.
Well, first of all, you read the script a million times. Because what the script gives you are given circumstances. Given circumstances are all the facts of your character.
We all have different narratives; all of our narratives are at different stages of development.
I feel that confidence in women - especially young girls of color - but women, in general, is so important. It is so important for us to arm ourselves and become powerful at a very young age.
What do you want? What do you want your life to be? What do you want your testimony to be? Go for it!
I don't care if someone is new to acting or experienced in acting: you always learn something from them. It's just like people in life - whether they're young or middle-aged or old, you always learn something from someone.
I love Wal-Mart. You can put that down. I love Wal-Mart. My husband and I hang out there.
I reserve the right to be a mess and completely unlikable.
I think I've lived long enough to understand that plans really are very overrated.
The big 'Aha!' moment is that the trauma never goes away.
Self-deprecation is not the answer to humility.
He is a regular guy who absolutely is not attracted to his own celebrity. He's a jokester, a little rough around the edges, with great heart and compassion; he loves his family. I feel very comfortable with him. I don't see 'Denzel Washington Star'; I just see Denzel.
I've been online doing all kinds of research and that seems to be the constant criticism, that Aibileen's accent was just too thick. And for me, I don't want anything to distract from the character.
When people come into the theater, whether it's the screen or the stage, they've gotta be transported and transformed.
When you grow up poor, you dream of just having a hom, and a bed that's clean - that's a sanctuary. Having a really great husband, a child who's healthy and happy and brings me joy - all of that has been my dream.
Sometimes there is no sugar-coating it. Sometimes you have to challenge people's belief systems in a progressive way.
I don't see a lot of narratives written where a woman who looks like me gets to be beautiful and sexualized and upwardly mobile, middle-class, funny, quirky. They're very seldom written.
I know I'm not the best, but I'm proud of myself.
I suffered from low self-esteem for much of my life. And now to feel like maybe something that I'm projecting or saying could mean something to someone means a lot to me.
I definitely have a happy marriage and family life.
Sometimes you see how humanity can rise above any kind of cultural ills and hate that a person's capacity to love and communicate and forgive can be bigger than anything else.
I worked in television; I'm the Failed Pilot Queen, I've done so many television shows, pilots, theater ... when you do it for so long, I'm telling you, you get to the point where it becomes varied because you take what's available for a number of reasons. It's just an occupational hazard.
I would love to do really great work and for women who are marginalised to see me as an inspiration.
In life, you know, they do this in focus groups; if you were in such and such circumstance, what would you do? Well, you never know what you're going do unless you're faced with it.
It feels like my hard work has paid off, but at the same time, I still have the impostor, you know, syndrome. I still feel like I'm going to wake up, and everybody's going to see me for the hack I am.
When you're working as an actor, you don't think that when you get out of school, it's going to be so hard to get a job. Just to get a job. Any job. Whatsoever. You don't think that people are going to see you in a certain way.