Viola Davis is a force to reckon with when it comes to acting. The Oscar and Emmy-winning actress has been vocal about the plight of Black actors in Hollywood. She recently talked about the limited roles offered to her due to her skin colour. In fact, once a director called her by his maid’s name as well. About the incident, Viola said, “those micro-aggressions happen all the time.”
Viola Davis On Hollywood’s Race Issue
Viola Davis opened up about getting rejected for certain roles due to her race in the past. She told Variety that it was because Hollywood did not find her “pretty enough.” She said it “really gets on my damn nerves,” and “It breaks my heart and it makes me angry.”
The actress explained, “A lot of it is based in race. It really is. Let’s be honest. If I had my same features and I were five shades lighter, it would just be a little bit different. And if I had blonde hair, blue eyes and even a wide nose, it would be even a little bit different than what it is now. We could talk about colorism, we could talk about race. It pisses me off, and it has broken my heart — on a number of projects, which I won’t name.”
Also Read: Viola Davis’ Memoir Is Inspired By Her Experiences Of The Racism, Poverty, And Colorism
Have Things Changed For Black Actors?
While Hollywood has come a long way in showing diversity, Viola Davis feels the progress is slow. Giving an example from her personal experience, she said, “I had a director who did that to me. He said, ‘Louise!’ I knew him for 10 years and he called me Louise and I find out that it’s because his maid’s name is Louise. I was maybe around 30 at the time, so it was a while ago. But what you have to realize is that those micro-aggressions happen all the time.”
She added, “I know that when I left ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ that I don’t see a lot of dark skin women in lead roles on TV and not even in streaming services. And that ties into ideology and ethos and mentality, and that’s speaking in the abstract. Why aren’t you hiring a dark skin woman when she walks in the room and you say she blows you away? Create space and storytelling for her so when she thrives she’s not thriving despite of her circumstance but thriving because of her circumstance.”
