--- title: TIME 100: Viola Davis on Being an Actor description: For Viola Davis, playing characters whose stories are rarely seen onscreen is the best part of being an actor canonical: https://time.com/4744314/viola-davis-time-100-video/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T11:00:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:46:43.304Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Viola Davis: 'I Feel Like I Was a Total Rebel Being an Actor' og:description: To Davis, acting is "a passion, a love" og:url: https://time.com/4744314/viola-davis-time-100-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96ddbdcc760d1c4d/6988c367cd1bba2152704c91/time-100-2017-viola-davis-miles-aldridge1.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: time-100-2017-viola-davis-miles-aldridge og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Viola Davis: 'I Feel Like I Was a Total Rebel Being an Actor' twitter:description: To Davis, acting is "a passion, a love" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96ddbdcc760d1c4d/6988c367cd1bba2152704c91/time-100-2017-viola-davis-miles-aldridge1.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Viola Davis: 'I Feel Like I Was a Total Rebel Being an Actor' > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Viola Davis: 'I Feel Like I Was a Total Rebel Being an Actor' [Watch (HLS stream): Viola Davis: 'I Feel Like I Was a Total Rebel Being an Actor'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pxce4zdJ.m3u8) (4:07)  _Published 2017-04-20. For Viola Davis, a TIME 100 honoree, playing characters whose stories are rarely seen onscreen is the best part of being an actor._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 20, 2017 11:00 AM UTC For Viola Davis, a TIME 100 honoree, playing characters whose stories are rarely seen onscreen is the best part of being an actor. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 20, 2017 11:00 AM UTC For [Viola Davis](http://motto.time.com/4692147/viola-davis-award-harvard/), playing characters whose stories are rarely seen onscreen is the best part of being an actor. “Those things that we probably are ashamed of as human beings, certain things that no one would ever talk about—as actors, when we transform into a character, we empathize with those moments,” the [Academy Award winner](http://time.com/4683341/oscars-2017-viola-davis-speech/) and member of the [2017 TIME 100](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736294/viola-davis/) tells TIME in a video interview. Fresh off starring in _Fences_, a film based on a play by August Wilson, Davis applauds the playwright’s knack for elevating stories typically swept under the rug. “August Wilson is the one writer that writes about men like my father, who had a fifth grade education, who was a janitor at McDonald’s. Who notices a janitor at McDonald’s? Who notices women like my mom, May Alice Davis who has an eighth grade education, who got married and had her first kid at 15? Who grew up on Singleton Plantation. He wrote about the every day human being,” Davis says. “I feel like those are the greatest stories, man. That’s why I became an actor.” **MORE** [See Who Is on TIME’s List of the Most Influential People of 2017](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/) Pursuing acting as a career allowed Davis to feel like a rebel. “‘Rebel’ is not a word I would describe for myself but I feel like I was a total rebel being an actor,” she says. “It made me feel like there was something in me, a passion, a love—and that I didn’t just squelch it.” ## Transcript [00:00] We like winners. We like people who hold trophies. we [00:04] like people who have money. We don't want anything [00:08] that reflects our greatest fear. And when you are poor [00:12] that's what you are reflecting. It's not even [00:16] that people look down on you they don't see you At all. [00:20] To my sisters. My sister Delores who's here, who [00:23] played JaJe and JaJa with me. We were rich white [00:26] women in the Tea Party games. [ LAUGH ] [00:30] Thank you for the imagination. I would go JaJe, [00:36] JaJe Where did you get your ring from and my sister [00:40] Dolores would say, [ LAUGH ] I got it from [00:44] my husband who loves me more than any man could [00:47] ever love a woman. And then she would always break [00:51] it by saying you're not rich, you don't live in Beverly [00:55] Hills, you're poor. You live on welfare, and I would say, [00:58] take that back lord, take it back. And the we [01:02] would fight and cry, and then the game would be over. [01:06] It was a coping mechanism, to deal with a sort of [01:08] dysfunction. And the poverty in a way it was a game [01:12] that saved us. [ MUSIC ] [01:19] It's not easy for me to admit that I've been standing in [01:22] the same place for 18 years. Well I've been standing [01:23] with you. I've been right here with you Troy. [01:28] Those things that we probably are ashamed of as [01:32] human beings. Certain things that no one would ever [01:36] talk about. As actors, when we transform into a [01:39] character we We empathize with those moments. [01:44] August Wilson is the one writer that writes about men [01:48] like my father who had a fifth grade education, who [01:51] was a janitor at McDonald's. Who notices women [01:55] like my mom, May Alice Davis, who has an eighth [01:58] grade education who got married and had her first kid [02:02] at 15. Grew up on Singleton Plantation. He [02:08] wrote about the everyday human being. And [02:12] I feel like those are the greatest stories, man, they're [02:15] the greatest stories. That's why I became an actor. [02:19] [ MUSIC ] Rebel is not [02:23] a word I would describe for myself. But I [02:28] feel like I was a total rebel being an actor. I think that [02:31] there is a place that lives within everyone [02:36] that's untouched by everything surrounding them. It's [02:40] a sacred place, where they define themselves I [02:45] don't believe that most know it's there. I think that we [02:48] wait for other people to define us, that's why we love [02:51] compliments. We never tap into that place and go who [02:55] are you? And what do you want? And it [02:59] made me feel alive that there was something in me, a [03:03] passion, a love [ MUSIC ] And that I didn't just squelch [03:07] it. That I literally took it out, and I let [03:11] it soar. [ MUSIC ] I [03:19] feel like when I win an award now, the 51 year old [03:22] woman gets up there who is very present and very [03:26] calm. I come from the world of if you enjoy it, [03:30] it's like all of the sudden the sky is gonna fall. [03:34] Like when I won this art contest, they had this big [03:37] ceremony for me at [ UNKNOWN ]. And I ran home to [03:40] tell my parents. And I just remember, I was running [03:44] back to poverty. It didn't feel the same way it felt [03:48] when I heard the news. And then I realized that, but [03:52] Viola, that was your childhood. You can actually enjoy it [03:55] now. So I think it's a big deal to enjoy. 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