VIOLA DAVIS IS,no doubt about it, a big deal. Since her breakthrough in 2008, she has quickly
established herself as one of the most consistently excellent actors currently working. In anyilm
she turns up in, be it an awards heavyweight likeThe Helpor silly summer movie likeSuicide Squad,
you know that, regardless of what’s around her or what kind of script she’s given,shewill be great.
Her characters tend to be tough, commanding and memorable. She has been nominated for an Oscar
twice. She has won an Emmy.
But what she’s experienced is the opposite of overnight success. As a child growing up in Central
Falls, Rhode Island, she never knew where her next meal was coming from, sometimes jumping into
maggot-infested trash cans to ind something to eat. She began acting at the age of eight, using
performance as a way to take her mind off her family’s troubles. Slowly perfecting her craft, she spent
decades doing stage work, garnering a reputation as an in-demand actress with vast range. Finally,
at the age of 43, her acclaimed screen performance inDoubtput her on the path to fame and fortune.
Her latest project,Fences, brings the two parts of Davis’ career together. An adaptation of an
August Wilson play, directed by and co-starring Denzel Washington, it sees her play Rose, the
submissive wife of Troy, a man who never realised his potential and has let his resentments sour his
relationships with the rest of his family. Both Davis and Washington played the same roles on stage
in New York in 2010, winning Tonys. A woman who keeps her own grievances quiet until she can hold
them in no longer, Rose is a part that stretches all Davis’ acting muscles. Unsurprisingly, it’s made
her the favourite for this year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar. If she wins it, she’ll have a set of the
biggest awards in stage, ilm and TV (she won an Emmy for her showHow To Get Away With Murder).
When we meet Davis at the Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles, there’s a sense she still hasn’t
adjusted to her massive upswing of fortune. She’s initially rather shy — she is “very much an introvert”
— and says the peculiarities of celebrity still confuse her. Over the course of our hour together, though,
she becomes more relaxed and animated, her gesticulations getting larger and her laugh louder with
every anecdote. She loves to entertain. After four decades of practice, she’s very, very good at it.
You performed the role of Rose for 13 weeks
on stage. What made you want to play her
again on screen?
The characters in this are endlessly fascinating.
They’re vast. There isn’t any amount of
re-examining of it that could be enough...
I always tell people I never got the inal scene
[right] in 13 weeks in New York. Never hit it,
until we did [the ilm].Rose is marginalised in her own
marriage. Everything is according to
Troy’s desires. What interested you
about their relationship?
I irst sawFencesin a production years ago in
Providence. A great actress played Rose, but
I felt like when she irst came out on stage she
was mad. Every time she gave Troy a line it was
harsh and hard, so by the time the marriage
fell apart, I never felt the loss. I just thought it
was fractured from the very beginning. I was
adamant not to do that. I wanted it to look like
something that may not be perfect, but was
working. Listen, man, they’re having sex after
18 years. That’s something. They’re always