Viola Davis

Viola Davis

Actress, Producer

Viola Davis is an acclaimed actress and producer known for her powerful performances in films like 'Fences' and her advocacy for representation in the arts.

Thinking People Actors Character Opportunity Want
Born
August 11, 1975
Quotes
172
Rank
#5041

Quote collection

Viola Davis quotes (page 7 of 9)

172 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.

Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"In film, it's up to the director to tell the story in whatever way he sees fit, and however you fit into that ultimate vision is where you fit in. So what you did on that stage, on that set, may not be what you ultimately see when you see the final product. And TV works so fast, it works so fast, it's just about product. The average TV show, one episode shoots eight, 10 days. That's it. You get three or four takes for a scene, and then it's over. But people do it for the money."

People Vision Film
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"There's a big difference in doing a play or doing any project that not a lot of people see and then a project that you know everyone will see. There is more pressure, performance anxiety per se. And then when you do and what you love is really put to test."

Love Is Play Differences
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"You don't get the pay-off when you're playing a quiet character, so sometimes you want to just throw out all your work and say, "Okay, let me do something really funny or gimmicky, just so that I can get some attention in this scene.""

Character Attention Want
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"It's harder to play a quiet character because everything happens in their stream of consciousness. They're thinking and feeling the world, but they're saying very little, so then you have to communicate it through your behavior."

Character Thinking Play
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I had several teachers who inspired me, in both the public school system and the Upward Bound program. I needed several, because I lived in such abject poverty and dysfunction. And they're still in my life today, because I consider them to be friends, actually."

Teacher School Dysfunction
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"On stage you never watch yourself. You just experience it, and then you go home, and you feel pretty good if you gave a pretty good performance or crappy if you didn't. But in TV and film, you actually have to experience it while you're doing it, and then you have to watch it. And then when you're watching it, you watch it with a different sensibility than how you experienced it."

Home Different Watches
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"People call me a theater actor, but I'm just an actor. But I tell my friends all the time - especially a lot that do theater and haven't done a lot of TV/film - that you have so much more control over your work onstage. When you go onstage, you can really see the difference between people who can really do it, and people who are just kind of pretending to do it. There is no editor, there's nothing that's going to stop the actor from showing what they can do unless it's not a well-written role."

People Over You Done
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"Even when I go shopping, I don't shop as a woman. The only time I shop is when I need something, and I'm in and out in less than 30 minutes, so I have no energy to look at 50 million gowns and styles and make sketches and think about heels. I'm not girly in that way. I'm relying on the stylist to do 99 percent of the work."

Girly Thinking Shopping
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I have a lot of spiritual books that I read that I really, really love - everything from the Bible to Joseph Campbell, who I love. He wrote The Hero of a Thousand Faces. It's about exploring what is heroic in you. It helps me a lot."

Spiritual Book Hero
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"[Denzel Washington] was rustling with something and when he came back it was with a word about loving myself and the body that I'm in because I was still going on and on about the weight thing. I just liked that, because what people don't understand is that so much of what blocks us as actors is so personal."

Block People Actors
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"The sentiment that I had a little trouble with was the idea that, "You change the school, you change the community." I couldn't wrap my mind around that."

School Ideas Community
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"It's harder to work with people who are not as dedicated to their craft. It also leaves you a better actor when you finish the project, since you always feel like you've learned something."

People Actors Crafts
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"To me, it's always a luxury to be able to work with the best of the best because they make it easier for you to do what you do."

Luxury Able Best Of The Best
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I've always seen myself for who I am, which is a lot of things."

Who I Am
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I just hope this [Emmy] is now a part of the status quo that women of color are included in the narratives that continue to write lead roles for us."

Writing Color Roles
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I can't speak for the Kathryn Stockett, but I would guess that she feels proud of the progress the South has made because, growing up, she experienced a very different Mississippi than the one that exists today."

Growing Up Progress Different
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I did want to mark the fact that it was the first African-American to win the Lead Actress category.I thought it was so progressive."

Winning African American Want
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I've always seen myself for who I am, which is a lot of things. So, I guess that when I walk into a room, I bring all those things to a role, and I've always just simply seen myself as an actor."

Who I Am Roles Actors
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Viola Davis Actress, Producer
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"I've done a really bad job with teaching daughter to put on makeup, but I have taught her how to put on lipstick."

Daughter Jobs Teaching
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