Viola Davis shares a microaggression experience in which the principal called her by her maid’s name
Viola Davis was already a star when How to get away with murder he left. The popular Shondaland drama wowed fans with Davis and her unparalleled acting skills. So it was no surprise when the actor took home an Emmy Award for his performance. But it should surprise everyone that the papers didn’t come after How to get away with murder Davis recently revealed that racism is still hurting her career, even as a Hollywood star.
She’s a Hollywood powerhouse
How to get away with murder it was just a feather on Viola Davis’s highly decorated cap. According to IMDb, the actress worked her way up from bit parts in the ’90s to finally landing her first recurring role in 2000 on the television series. City of Angels.
But Davis is not a one-trick pony. He amazes on both the big and small screen. In 2002, he had roles in Far from the sky Y Antony Fisher. Davis impresses no matter what he does, and he does a lot. He has been working nonstop since he started in the 1990s. He now has his own production company and a role in his latest project, The Woman King.
Viola Davis remembers the time a director called her by her maid name
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Getting to where she is now has not been easy for Viola Davis. She has had to fight racism at every turn. She sometimes presents herself in the form of microaggressions. In short: a director she had known for a decade called her by her servant’s name. According to Davis, that kind of thing happens all the time.
The microaggression hurt, but not as much as the obstacles Davis faces on a daily basis. She says that being excluded from the projects that she wants to make of her breaks her heart and makes her angry.
“If I wanted to play a mother whose family lives in a low-income neighborhood and my son was a gang member who was killed in a drive-by shooting, I could do it,” the actor told Variety at the Cannes Film Festival. 2022. . “If I’m playing a woman looking to recreate flying to Nice and sleeping with five men at the age of 56, looking like me, I’m going to have a hard time pushing that, even as Viola Davis.”
According to Viola Davis, colorism and racism are rampant in Hollywood
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Although Hollywood has been openly dealing with race and racism for decades, colorism is rarely addressed. The Will Smith TV Show The prince of Bel Air replaced the original Aunt Viv with a lighter-skinned actor after a few seasons. Accounts differ as to why the producers made the change, but some sources have indicated the decision was colorist. The new actor who played Aunt Viv had lighter skin than the original.
That’s the kind of thing dark-skinned actors like Davis have to deal with. They’re basically fighting three battles at once: against the racism, sexism, and colorism embedded in Hollywood culture.
Davis declined to name the director who called her by her maid name.
“Let’s be honest. If he had the same features as me and was five shades lighter, it would be a little different,” the actor told Variety. “And if she had blonde hair, blue eyes, and even a wide nose, she would be a little different than she is now. We could talk about colorism; We could talk about race. It makes me angry and has broken my heart, on a number of projects, which I will not name.”
RELATED: Viola Davis criticizes criticism of her portrayal of Michelle Obama in ‘The First Lady’: ‘Critics are absolutely useless’
