Odds and critical adoration favor Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress for her turn in Fences at this Sunday’s Academy Awards. If she wins, Davis, who has won numerous accolades for her acting work, will have another moment behind the podium, where she has been known to give acceptance speeches with raw, emotional qualities, often drawing on her experience as a woman of color. In 2015, she made history when she became the first black woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in How to Get Away with Murder. Her speech went viral, with quotes like “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” becoming a rallying cry.
Check out some of her most inspiring acceptance speeches above.
