Issue Date: December 21, 2008
Viola Davis
She's got a Screen Actors Guid Award nomination ... and this actress is generating Oscar buzz.
"I gained 17 pounds eating doughnuts with Meryl Streep!"
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"Sometimes you just gotta deliver the pizza," actress Viola Davis declares with a knowing laugh. SheÕs referring to the small parts she has had in TV hits like Law & Order: SVU and movies like 2002Õs Solaris with George Clooney.
Ditto her newest role in Doubt, the big-screen version of the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play starring Meryl Streep. This time, she steals the show, says Variety, which calls her performance "devastatingly great."
The 43-year-old Davis, a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York, and her husband of five years, actor Julius Tennon, have two young kids.
"Crazy blinged out" (she jokes) in $5 oversize sunglasses, an Express blazer and jeans, Davis looks a lot hipper than the downtrodden women she has played onscreen. We chatted recently over drinks at a swanky Hollywood hotel watering hole.
What was it like going toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep?
One thing that [bugs you] about her is youÕre so tense and nervous, and sheÕs completely relaxed. She knits, sheÕs reading the paper, she wants to chat about whateverÕs happening in the world today. SheÕs laughing, sheÕs dancing, sheÕs eating. I gained 17 pounds eating with her. If Meryl Streep offers you a doughnut, you gotta eat the doughnut!
YouÕve been in several George Clooney movies. Is it true he lent you his Italian villa for your honeymoon?
Yeah. We were so amazed by his generosity. It was just us in the villa and the staff cooking us five-course meals!
Your character in Doubt deals with some harsh realities, including abuse and living in the segregated 1960s. How did you bring your own life experience to that role?
I grew up in poverty [in Central Falls, R.I.], and I do have family members who are drug-addicted. But thereÕs a big "but" to that. These are still people who love their kids. TheyÕve just been given a set of circumstances, and they donÕt have the tools to navigate their way out of it.
How do you feel about your role in Doubt getting Oscar buzz?
It makes me tense because I feel like people are setting me up for failure! ItÕs a small role. [Other supporting actresses like] Penelope Cruz, Amy Adams, Taraji Henson Ñ they all have bigger roles. And who is this Viola Davis, anyway?
ItÕd be nice to see you in a role someday where you look like you do. You look great.
Oh, thank you. Can you put that in your article? There are no black Carrie Bradshaws Ñ there are, but not onscreen. If I ever do get a big role, I want it to be fully realized. I want to see black women humanized.
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