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VIOLA DAVIS photographed by AB + DM Entertainment Weekly’s 2021 Oscars Issue

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VIOLA DAVIS + MAJOR INDUSTRY AWARDS

We get probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets. And I’m number one on the call sheet, and then I have to go in and I have to hustle for my worth.

I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys, I’ve done Broadway, I’ve done off-Broadway, I’ve done TV, I’ve done film, I’ve done all of it. I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver - They all came out of Yale, they came out of Julliard, they came out of NYU. They had the same path as me.

And yet, I am nowhere near them. Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere near close to it. I have to constantly get on that phone, and people say, “You’re a black Meryl Streep. You are, and we love you. We love you. There is no one like you.”

Okay, then if there’s no one like me - you think I’m that - you pay me when I’m worth. You give me what I’m worth.

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First look at Viola Davis in The Woman King (2022), dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood

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VIOLA DAVIS 2022 | Marcos Florentino & Kelvin Yule ph. for ELLE Brasil

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There’s no prerequisites to worthiness. You’re born worthy, and I think that’s a message a lot of women need to hear.

— VIOLA DAVIS

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I always felt like you had to be pretty, you had to be thin, you had to be young, you have to be… something. And now I know the truth, I’m worthy. That’s a good start.

-Viola Davis, on being worthy of success.

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Viola Davis attends the red carpet during the 14th Rome Film Festival on October 26, 2019 in Rome, Italy

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Viola Davis photographed by Robert Gauthier for Los Angeles Times, October 2011. 

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Karla Souza and Viola Davis attend The Rape Foundation’s Annual Brunch on September 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.

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Viola Davis attends The Rape Foundation’s Annual Brunch on September 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.

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Viola Davis on her past bullies wanting to be her friend

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Viola Davis cried to a wooden dummy

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The internal sexism within womanhood is very ­predominant in Hollywood, because we all want to be ­successful. There’s a plug to it: You all have to be skinny! You all have to be pretty! You all have to be likable, because that’s the ­formula that works. On an ­executive level. On a power level. And it’s not always the same working with black people, because of the internalized racism. The colorism.

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Viola Davis attends the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

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Viola Davis and her husband Julius Tennon make their way through LAX Airport on August, 2 in Los Angeles. (video)

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I have an absolute understanding and awareness of the image I project, and there’s just not a lot of roles for women who look like me. Here’s the thing: We’re in crisis mode as black actresses. Not only in the sheer number of roles that are offered and that are out there, but in the quality of roles. When you only have two or three categories for black actresses, therein lies the problem.

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Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2013)