Everything you need to know about Viola Davis’ talk last night
Viola Davis is more than an actress – she is a hero
Tony-Award winner, Academy-Award nominee, and civil-rights activist, Viola Davis delivered a speech at Wake Forest last night entitled “The Journey of a Hero” as part of the Reynolda Film Festival. Ms. Davis has become one of the most accomplished and celebrated actresses today and was welcomed to a full house at Wait Chapel. Most recently, Ms. Davis became the first African-American woman to win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Annalise DeWitt in the ABC drama “How to Get Away with Murder.”
Within the first few minutes of her speech, it became clear that Ms. Davis’ capabilities as an actress are not her only strengths. She is dedicated to ensuring that “women of color are part of the narrative and represented across all artistic platforms.”
Born on a plantation in South Carolina and raised in poverty in Rhode Island, Ms. Davis has long faced adversity. When she was a young child, she would say to herself “I am going to be great. People are going to look at my craft and see that I’m great at something,” and at eight years old, she began her acting career. She notes that “in my heart I was very much anything I wanted to be.” Ms. Davis was deeply inspired by Cicely Tyson and the television show “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”
Viola Davis addressing the crowd at Wake Forest.
In her speech, she said: “I am a hero that was born into an ordinary world a world where I didn’t quite fit and then I had a call to adventure. The first thing that got me out of my situation was vision.”
Davis attended The Julliard School and pursued roles in film, television, and theater. During her career, she noticed a lack of roles for black women in the industry. Thus, established a production company with her husband called JuVee Productions. Ms. Davis started the company because she “wanted to be part of changing the narratives for women of color in the industry, and I wanted to do it for myself, too.”
As an actress, she said: “It’s my job to give the audience a human being. That’s it.” Ms. Davis has given us vulnerable, intelligent, and dynamic characters throughout her thirty-year career.
Her speech was received with excitement, and she left students, teachers, and Winston-Salem locals, alike, in awe.
Sophomore Gracie Weiner is an Art History major from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Sophomore Gracie Weiner said, “As a woman, it was very empowering to listen to Viola Davis’ story, her journey to make a meaningful narrative for herself in the acting industry was similarly inspiring. One of the most important messages of her talk was to use imagination to create the stories and change we want to see.”
Sophomore Kiya Khalil is a Biology and Spanish major from Wilmington, North Carolina.
Kiya Khalil also praised Ms. Davis’ speech. She said, “One thing that was very powerful was Ms. Davis’ message was her view of success. She noted that we all focus on attaining our goal and being successful but we do not think about making that goal significant. This impacted me as a Wake Forest student. In any given day, we often go through the motions and do not think about giving our tasks meaning. Viola Davis’ speech encouraged me to stop and value myself and my accomplishments.”
Melissa Harris Perry (left) interviewing Viola Davis (right).
After being lauded by Melissa Harris Perry – a Wake Forest alumna, MSNBC correspondent, and professor at WF – Ms. Davis left us with one final and inspiring thought; embrace your vulnerability, and own your story.