Film Quotes by Viola Davis

11 Film quotes by Viola Davis

A powerhouse on screen, Viola Davis shares eleven concise observations that reveal why storytelling matters. Her words carry the weight of lived experience and artistic fire.

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I don't know why directing is not something I'm interested in.

Viola Davis

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Your internal dialogue has got to be different from what you say. And, you know, in film, hopefully that registers and speaks…

Viola Davis

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When a director can give you a word that allows you to feel less tense about yourself, to make you feel like…

Viola Davis

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Obviously, ["Fences"] is a character-driven piece in every sense of the word, and Denzel [Washington] knows the actor. He gave us two…

Viola Davis

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I do believe that there are African Americans who have thick accents. My mom has a thick accent; my relatives have thick…

Viola Davis

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When Denzel [Washington] first called me on the phone after we'd just done a reading of the film ["Fences"]. He said, "Oh…

Viola Davis

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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…

Viola Davis

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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…

Viola Davis

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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

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Sometimes people come in as a director, and they just want the result, and they barely want that to tell you the…

Viola Davis

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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…

Viola Davis

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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

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I am not a glam woman - this definitely is a mask I put on for the public.

Viola Davis

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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

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That's why there's so much bad acting out there, because you could see actors watching themselves.

Viola Davis

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I want my work to reflect my level of gifts and talent

Viola Davis

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I don’t want anyone putting any limits on me.

Viola Davis

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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

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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

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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

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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

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I started a production company out of necessity, the need for great narratives for actors of color.

Viola Davis

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That's always the biggest surprise when people meet me: how buoyant I am and how fun and light I am.

Viola Davis

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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

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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

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I am addicted to any facial product that's anti-aging.

Viola Davis

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