--- title: Oscars 2017: Viola Davis Wins Best Supporting Actress VIDEO description: Viola Davis delivered a tear-jerking speech while accepting the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences canonical: https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-27T03:12:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:52.671Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Viola Davis Just Won an Oscar. Watch Her Emotional Speech. og:description: Artists are the only "profession that celebrates what it means to live a life" og:url: https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf802279a3e594538/6988bc0abc6cfc03a43e04e1/viola-davis-speech1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 89th Annual Academy Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Viola Davis Just Won an Oscar. Watch Her Emotional Speech. twitter:description: Artists are the only "profession that celebrates what it means to live a life" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf802279a3e594538/6988bc0abc6cfc03a43e04e1/viola-davis-speech1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Viola Davis Deliver an Emotional Oscar Acceptance Speech ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. Artists are the only "profession that celebrates what it means to live a life"_ by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 27, 2017 3:12 AM CUT by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 27, 2017 3:12 AM CUT [Viola Davis](http://time.com/4682262/oscars-2017-viola-davis-best-roles/ "undefined") delivered an emotional, tearful while accepting the [Oscar for Best Supporting Actress](http://time.com/4680083/oscars-2017-winners-list/ "undefined") for her role in _Fences_. Davis honored August Wilson, who wrote the play [_Fences_](http://time.com/4627982/jenna-bush-hager-hidden-figures-fences/ "undefined"), saying he “exhumed and exalted the ordinary people,” whose stories she wants to share in her work. “The stories of the people who dream big and never saw those dreams to fruition,” she said. “People who fell in love and lost. I became an artist and thank god I did because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.” > [](https://twitter.com/ABC/status/836045171988975620) Davis also thanked her family, including her parents and sister. “To Dan and Mae Alice Davis, who were and are the center of my universe. The people who taught me good or bad, how to fail, how to love, how to hold an award, how to lose,” she said. “My parents. I’m so thankful God chose you to bring me into this world.” Davis also thanked her husband, Julius Tennon, and daughter, Genesis, during her acceptance speech. “To my husband and daughter, my heart. You and Genesis, you teach me every day how to live, how to love,” she said. “I’m so glad that you are the foundation of my life.” > [](https://twitter.com/violadavis/status/836041037013368833) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/"},"headline":"Watch Viola Davis Deliver an Emotional Oscar Acceptance Speech","datePublished":"2017-02-27T03:12:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:52.671Z","description":"Artists are the only \"profession that celebrates what it means to live a life\"","url":"https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/","keywords":["awards","onetime","Oscars 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf802279a3e594538/6988bc0abc6cfc03a43e04e1/viola-davis-speech1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf802279a3e594538/6988bc0abc6cfc03a43e04e1/viola-davis-speech1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Show","caption":"Viola Davis accepts Best Supporting Actress for Fences during the 89th Annual Academy Awards, on Feb. 26, 2017 in Hollywood, Calif.","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/","name":"Watch Viola Davis Deliver an Emotional Oscar Acceptance Speech"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Artists are the only \"profession that celebrates what it means to live a life\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```