Cry of the week: Viola Davis wins an Oscar and inspires us so much it hurts
Welcome to our new weekly series "Cry of the Week," in which we highlight whatever moment made us ugly cry on our couches the most in the past seven days.
You cannot stop a queen. Viola Davis' win at Sunday's 89th Annual Academy Awards was a career milestone and a victory for artists and women of color around the world. At 51, the actress is one step from an EGOT, starring in a hit TV show and has cemented herself as one of the powerhouse performers of a generation.
We cry pretty much every time she does anything and the Oscars were no exception.
SEE ALSO: You'll cry just as hard at Viola Davis' Oscars speech as you did at 'Fences'
Davis was expected to take home the gold for her performance as Rose Maxsen in Fences, but that didn't make the moment any less satisfying. In a speech honoring her peers, her role models and ordinary lives worthy of exaltation, Davis began to tear up and pretty soon the emotion had spilled over through our screens and into our eyes.
Davis studied theatre at Juilliard and then appeared on and off in television and film after completing her education.
She won her first Tony Award for King Hedley II in 2001 but in the same year Hollywood had a lot of catching up to do with the type of film roles she was getting:
While Sunday's biggest EGOT-buzz was for Lin-Manuel Miranda closing in on the last of the title's requisite four awards, Davis wound up tying him in the race with an Oscar to join her two Tonys and an Emmy for How to Get Away With Murder.
Davis received her first Oscar nomination in 2009, for another play-turned-movie, Doubt. Davis had the least amount of scenes but made a strong impression that translated to a shot at Best Supporting Actress (the award wound up going to Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona). She is now the seventh black actress to have won in this category (Halle Berry remains the only woman of color to claim Best Actress in a Leading Role).
Her success is an inspiration to struggling artists and persistent women. So cheers to you, Viola, and to many more years of performances that it will be a privilege to watch.
