Viola Davis Books In Order

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Viola Davis is an accomplished American actress and author.

Viola was born August 11, 1965 to her parents Mary Alice and Dan in St. Matthews, South Carolina. She was the second-youngest of six children. Her parents and the majority of her siblings moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island when she was two months old. Her father was a horse trainer and groomer and her mother was a factory worker, maid, and civil rights activist.

Viola went to Central Falls High School, where she then got involved in acting and various programs. At Rhode Island College, she studied theater and was part of the National Student Exchange. She graduated in 1988 and then attended Julliard School for four years, part of the Drama Division Group 22 and landing her first role in an off-Broadway production of As You Like It. She would appear in Broadway in 1996 as Vera Dotson in Seven Guitars, and was nominated for a Tony Award.

The actress would appear in film for the first time in the movie The Substance of Fire, playing a nurse. She appeared on tv in NYPD Blue and New York Undercover. She kept performing on stage and then landed a role in The Pentagon War on Hbo as Sergeant Fanning. She then was Moselle in Out of Sight and was in the television movie Grace & Glorie. She was then in Miss Apprehension and Squirt as well as back to the stage for A Raisin in the Sun, Everybodys Ruby, and The Vagina Monologues.

Viola has also been in the movie Traffic, uncredited as a parole board interrogator in Oceans Eleven, in Judging Amy as Celeste, and Nurse Lynnette Peeler in City of Angels. Viola also played in King Hedley II as Tonya and has been in many more movies and tv shows, including The Shrink Is In, Kate & Leopold, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Division, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Far From Heaven, Antwone Fisher (where she was nominated for a Spirit Award for best supporting female), Gordon (Black Reel Awards nominated for best supporting actress), and Father Lefty.

She would also serve as co-executive producer for “Driving Fish”, a short film that year. She has appeared on Hack, The Practice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Century City, on stage in Intimate Apparel, the tv movie Jesse Stone: Stone Cold, and the tv show Threshold. She has been in Get Rich or Die Tryin, in Syriana in an uncredited role, Molly Crane in Jesse Stone, the Mother in World Trace Center, on Without a Trace and on Laws of Chance, and in The Fantasia Barrino Story.

She was also in Disturbia and then Molly Crane once more in Jesse Stone; Sea Change. She would also be in the series Traveler as Agent Jan Marlow. Viola appeared in the tv movie Fort Pit, and then Brothers & Sisters and the mini-series The Andromeda Strain. She was also in the movie Doubt, critically acclaimed and receiving several awards including an Academy Award for best supporting address.

Viola would go on to be in Madea Goes to Jail, in State of Play, in Law Abiding Citizen, and voice a character in beyond All Boundaries. She was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts as well before going back to the stage to be in Fences as Rose. She won a second Tony Award for her depiction of this character. Viola would then be in the United States of Taras and Knight and Day. She then was in Eat Pray Love and It’s Kind of a Funny Story, then voiced a character for Chico & Rita and was a narrator for The Unforgiving Minute, a short film. Viola was also in the crime drama Trust and then starred in The Help, winning multiple awards and nominations.

Viola was also in Touch of Evil, a short film, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, as well as Won’t Back Down. She received the Women in films Crystal Award from Meryl Streep and then continued on with a role in Beautiful Creatures. She appeared on Sofia the First and was Nancy Birch in Prisoners. Viola was in Enders Game and then in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby in three installments.

Viola has also bee in Get On Up, and then got a plum role as the lead in How to Get Away with Murder, a television series by Shonda Rhimes, as Annalise Keating. For her role as the law school professor and criminal defense attorney, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors guild Award for her performance. She then continued on to star in the film Black Hat and then with J.Lo in Lila & Eve. She kept things going starring in Custody, a television movie, and then in Suicide Squad as Amanda Waller. She was Rose Maxson in the film adaptation of Fences, where she won an Academy Award and many more.

Viola got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017. Harvard University would also give her the Artist of the Year Award. She was then the narrator for American Koko, a television series. She would also be in Widows, a crime drama, and Troop Zero as Miss Rayleen. She was then Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. She was also in The Woman King.

Viola donated funds to keep her hometown public library from closing and to her alma mater’s theater program. She has been working with the Hunger Is campaign since 2014. She began the $30k in 30 Days Project in 2017 with Hunger Is.

Viola is married to Julius Tennon, an actor and producer. They have an adopted daughter named Genesis and Viola is a stepmother to her husband’s other two children. They live together in California.

Finding Me is a 2022 memoir from Viola Davis. It was named a most anticipated book by Marie Claire and Parade and a best book of 2022 by Harpers Bazaar, as well as an Oprah’s Book Club Pick. Read the book that the Los Angeles Times says is a narrative ‘of struggle and success’!

This is Viola’s life in her own words, about a girl who made the decision one day to stop running in life. She’s told her story from growing up in an apartment in Rhode Island to being on stage and more. This story is about her path to find purpose and also about her voice in a world that she says did not always see her.

Viola says that our stories are not always examined closely, and we must reinvent them all of the time to fit into this world. This book was written for those who are going through life untethered trying to find self-love and who needs to be reminded that life must be lived by being you. Viola hopes her readers will be inspired themselves to be creative in their own life and find out who they are, before ‘the world put a label on you’! Check this book out to find out more about Viola Davis’s life and journey to where she is today.