Viola Davis: ‘A huge deficit and discrepancy is still out there for artists of color’

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Viola Davis should be on a high right now. Besides stunting on us in her Icy Park gear (Viola looked damn good ya’ll), her career is taking off later in life. Her latest film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, was a tour de force and she received Golden Globe, SAG and Critics Choice nominations for lead actress. There’s Oscar buzz around her performance and if she’s nominated as expected she’ll have the most nominations for a Black actress in history. (Currently she ties with Octavia Spencer with three Academy Award nominations.) Viola has an Oscar for Best-Supporting Actress for her role in Fences. She’s just a Grammy away from an EGOT. Viola had a conversation with Stacey Abrams for Variety. She discussed making Oscar history and the lack of material for artists of color in the film industry. Below are a few excerpts:

“For me, it’s a reflection of the lack of opportunities and access to opportunities people of color have had in this business,” she says. “If me, going back to the Oscars four times in 2021, makes me the most nominated Black actress in history, that’s a testament to the sheer lack of material there has been out there for artists of color.”

Davis currently shares the record for the most nominated Black actress in the history of the Academy Awards, tied with close friend Octavia Spencer with three nods apiece. Both women have a supporting actress trophy at home (Davis won in 2017 for “Fences,” while Spencer won in 2012 for “The Help”).

“Am I grateful that I absolutely have gotten to that point in my life after everything that I’ve been through, and my path, my journey? I’m very grateful for that, extraordinarily so. But I just can’t express enough how important it is to lead a life of vision and purpose,” Davis says. “The conversation that no one is having, the sort of cognitive discussions that people are not having is the process to getting there — the tools and the access that was given to these artists, in order to get to a place where their work can be seen.”

She explains: “When you start having those conversations, you see what a huge deficit and huge discrepancy is still out there for artists of color, which is why a lot of times we don’t have a seat at the table. It’s not because we don’t have the talent, it’s not because we’re not working hard. It’s because of fundamental truths that we are not given the same permission, tools and everything that we need to even start on the same level, or to be on the same playing field.”

“There are a lot of white actresses out there, who are fairly young — in their 20s or 30s, who have been to the Academy Awards just as many times as me or more than me,” the 55-year-old star continues. “It is a reflection of their talent — but it’s also a reflection of their opportunities. That’s what it is. It’s a reflection of how they had the chance — those three, four or five roles that were so good that brought them to that place. [Being a Black actress] is like having a fabulous body, but not having the right clothes to show it off.”

In evaluating the number of nominations for contemporary actresses, for comparison’s sake — in 2016, Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence set a record as the youngest person to earn four nominations at age 25. In 2020, Saoirse Ronan became the second-youngest to earn four nods; she was also 25, but a few months older than Lawrence was at the time of her fourth nomination. Oscar-winner Kate Winslet (who currently has seven nods) was the youngest actress to reach five nominations; she was 31 when she was recognized for 2006’s “Little Children.”

[From Variety]

Viola is always spitting truth. I will never forget that interview where she said “If I am the Black Meryl Streep, then pay me Meryl Streep money.” That was the mic drop heard all over the world and she is right. Hollywood has always engaged in racist practices. I am loving how a lot of Black artists are starting to form their own production companies (like Viola’s JuVee Productions) and platforms (like Ava DuVernay with Array Crew) that give access to Black and Brown film workers. I am firm believer that if we wish to have more opportunities in the film industry, that we will have to create them ourselves. That is what I grew up with seeing with Spike Lee, Eddie Murphy and John Singleton to name a few. I also believe that we will have to force Hollywood’s hand in demanding more representation by boycotting if necessary and withholding our dollars. It would seem folks only respond to money or the lack thereof. I love how Viola stays on Hollywood’s back about the lack opportunities for BIPOC and I love that she is following that up by creating her own damn table. I will continue to stan Viola. She has been a real one these last two decades. I do hope her star continues to rise and that she and her husband create some amazing content.

Photos via Twitter, Instagram

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11 Responses to “Viola Davis: ‘A huge deficit and discrepancy is still out there for artists of color’”

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  1. SheaButterBaby says:

    I’m also a Viola stan! Her acting gives me chills and she always boldly speaks the truth about Hollywood. She’s a treasure!

  2. Aurora says:

    There is a dearth of young black actresses in general. Most black actresses don’t even get career opportunities until they are over 30 and safely out of the range of ingenue roles. Hollywood has an issue associating unambiguous ( i.e. non bi-racial/ light-skinned) Black women with youth and beauty.

    • Commonwealthy says:

      “Hollywood has an issue associating unambiguous ( i.e. non bi-racial/ light-skinned) Black women with youth and beauty.” – such an issue, and not just with white gatekeepers. Vanessa Bell Calloway recently said she wasn’t considered for the lead in Coming to America (despite being an established rising talent) because of her complexion, Eddie Murphy wanted a light-skinned love interest. Is it possible he didn’t think a darker-skinned lead wouldn’t have made the movie as successful as it was? Maybe, but imagine if he had been conscious enough and brave enough to do it anyway. I’m an 80s baby. I wonder what it would have been like to grow up with a variety of unambiguously black female leads in leading lady worthy of love non-traumatic roles – Love & Basketball and Best Man come to mind… and even then there the female protagonists broke heternormative gender molds a bit. Sanaa Lathan’s character hated being a girly girl, Nia Long’s character chose her career and was sexually frustrated. What impact would movies which centered Mia Calhoun’s character in Best Man, or Regina Hall’s character in Love & Basketball have had on how valid and valuable unambiguosly black women felt? Not instead of Love & Basketball or Best Man, but in addition to those narratives.

      Basically I’m just waiting for Kiki Layne and Aja Naomi King to be cast in everything and become huge stars so that unambiguously black women can have their moment in the heteronormative non-struggle love spotlight too. And the LGBT+ spotlight. All the spotlights. We deserve.

    • Kärent says:

      omg you hit the nail on the head. I’ve never heard this said so eloquently before.

  3. Yup, Me says:

    Yes to all of the above- especially the point about the fact that numbers of awards noms may speak to talent but also speaks very loudly to opportunities. I’ve been seeing so much of that in my own industry where white folks’ access to certain trainings, experiences and travel has them dominating an industry that is largely influenced by (and borrowing from) cultures they do not come from.

    Separately, I do not usually like heart shaped jewelry but Viola’s cursive heart gold earrings are my new favorite must have today.

  4. Blairski says:

    Just coming here to say how much I love her style, in addition to her leadership on expanding opportunities and calling out the industry on not putting its money where its mouth is.

  5. Abbess Tansy says:

    I agree with all of the above, and especially boycotting. I think its time to stop coveting some of these awards shows and just enhance our own.

    • UptownGirl says:

      I think that’s an excellent idea! There was a wonderful interview with the British actor, Adjoa Andoh that stars in Bridgestone, on CBS Sunday Morning. Ms. Andoh spoke about the lack of work for black women in the UK. Though as excited she is to be cast in this wonderful Shonda Rhimes period piece, at her age she has had trouble finding consistent work. Here she is in her late 40’s or maybe older and she had almost given up. It’s a terrible injustice that WOC work twice as hard to gain roles and have to work twice as hard to be noticed and recognized for their performances. Though we have seen small progress, it’s not enough and it’s not consistent. This year they ignored so many talented actors.
      If you haven’t watched Fences, I suggest you do. I adore Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, which I will watch him in anything he does. It’s an outstanding film about the trouble with systemic racism in America in the 50’s and how hard POC worked and how they were treated. I watched it twice, it was that good.

    • UptownGirl says:

      I think that the judges panel for movie should also reflect the diversity of America. I am not certain who sits on these judgement committees, but certainly aren’t POC, Indigenous, LGBTQ or Asian American. The committee must represent all of American, all of our colors and identification. Out with the old, tired and certainly dated committee and in with the new.
      The committee consists of for the year 2019, has increased to 50% women but only 16% minorities. That isn’t representation, that’s mired in a small and limited change.

  6. HoofRat says:

    She is a freaking goddess. I move we start referring to Meryl Streep as “the white Viola Davis”. Considering how vocal Streep has been in her admiration of her fellow thespian, I’m pretty sure she’d be on board.