The reason I became an actress is because I wanted my acting to reflect life as it is. I want to put… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
I don't think most people understand acting, even the people who call themselves savvy, even actors. — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
Acting, it's the disappearance of self, disappearance of your own needs and your own wants and the kind of embracing of the… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
If you're a boxer, you want to get the ring with a Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali type. When you're acting, you… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
Acting is not rocket science, but it is an art form. What you are doing is illuminating humanity. Or not. — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
Acting came from growing up in dysfunction. I mean, a lot of great times, but a lot of dysfunction. — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
That's why there's so much bad acting out there, because you could see actors watching themselves. — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
I have to say, doing theater, that's what you're trained to do. Doing film, when I first started doing it, felt like… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
I don't care if someone is new to acting or experienced in acting: you always learn something from them. It's just like… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
I've been to acting school and I think that at the end of the day, when you just focus on the work… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
I really want my acting to be definitive a lot of times, but I must feel like in any given moment there… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
Most actors don't understand acting. I think it's an art form that craft is out the window. I don't think people get… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
Egos are an occupational hazard in acting, but I don't have much of one, and my husband doesn't have much of one,… — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
It's always hard to be private in public, which is what acting is because you have to do thing really emotionally naked. — Viola Davis Copy Share Image
I look back at pictures of myself and I remember thinking, "I was so fat when I was growing up. I was 165 pounds… — Viola Davis Copy Share
I was bullied at school. The black girl in Central Falls, Rhode Island, in 1973. There'd be 8 or 10 boys; I would count… — Viola Davis Copy Share
That's why there's so much bad acting out there, because you could see actors watching themselves. — Viola Davis Copy Share
I think that's why August [Wilson] named her Rose [in "Fences"]; I really do. She's a rose in her sweetness and her kindness and… — Viola Davis Copy Share
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… — Viola Davis Copy Share
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… — Viola Davis Copy Share
I tell my daughter every morning, 'Now, what are the two most important parts of you?' And she says, 'My head and my heart.'… — Viola Davis Copy Share
I started a production company out of necessity, the need for great narratives for actors of color. — Viola Davis Copy Share
That's always the biggest surprise when people meet me: how buoyant I am and how fun and light I am. — Viola Davis Copy Share
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… — Viola Davis Copy Share
It was hard, that confrontation scene [in "Fences"], that was a hard one. I felt like it was relentless, I never felt like I… — Viola Davis Copy Share
![“I really want my acting to be definitive a lot of times, but I must feel like in any given moment there is a lot of things going on with Rose. I kept telling Denzel [Washington] throughout filming [Fences] that the house is her joy and her tomb.” quote by Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/8c1/viola-davis-1174_acting_i-really-want-my-acting-to-be-definitive_1090517.png)
