Viola Davis Quotes

I'm not into the Oscar and Emmys as much as I used to be because I'm tired of looking at people who don't look like me.

I go to castings and see several black and Asian girls, then I get to the show and look around there's just me and maybe one other coloured face.

I've been nominated for 12 Emmys, and we won - for 'Top Chef' - the only time I didn't go.

Jewish, black, Filipino, whatever the specificity is, it's specificity that makes a good story. And I think people are tired of seeing the same old shtick on network television. It's just a group of white people hanging out talking about their jobs. Who cares? We've seen that.

The thing that disturbs me the most, being in England, is that on the screen we don't see very many of us - there aren't very many black girls. They don't make the roles for us, or they don't see us in those roles.

It's very limited what women who look like me can do on television. You don't often see 'my type' on television unless she's a sidekick - certainly not a three-dimensional series regular who is pertinent to the plot.

When you have 20 nominations - 20 names on the nomination list of best actor, supporting actor and actress, etc., and there's absolutely no representation of color whatsoever, I think that's a subset of perhaps a bigger problem.

Even being part of a world like 'Black Panther,' that is gonna be something that's deeply commercial, it still is about a narrative of people who are unseen, unheard, and unrepresented, you know?

There were no Latin people on 'Star Trek,' that this was proof that they weren't planning to have us around for the future.

I feel like the world is dominated by such a small group of human beings. There are so many different kinds of people that aren't represented, that don't have characters who look like them. And that's one of the reasons why I intend on being a director, because I want to actually tell some of these stories. I also think that we place such intense emphasis on award shows when they're not necessarily the best reflection of how good the work is. We need to realize that art and creation are so much bigger than an award or any measure of accomplishment.

It's people who look like me, just seeing representation of everyone. I didn't get that when I was young. I only saw one black girl that was on a Disney show, that was known for being the sassy, coocoo, that type of girl.

I didn't have a hero playing in sports that looked like me.

If you take a step back, you realize that the TV landscape really has been... There have been some amazing shows in terms of representation, but not for Asian people.

Special things happen when you center people who haven't been centered before.

I think one in five Americans has a disability of some sort. That's 20% of the population, and yet we rarely ever see people with disabilities on-screen, and their stories and their resilience and their zest for life and their humor and their humanity.

I was very honoured to be awarded an OBE in 2016 for my services to diversity in the fashion industry.

Hollywood had a history of whitewashing and not representing.

It's far too rare an experience for Asian American girls to see themselves in media.

It's rare to see a person of colour in a lead role. It does matter to a lot of people.

Glee' is a great show in terms of tackling social issues.

I'm actually a big fan of having all the different types of voices on television. I think it gives people a nice little buffet that they can just pick and choose how they want to get their news and entertainment, I guess.

The shows which have strong female characters are long overdue. I think there should be more and I am glad to see that there are more. There are fantastic female and diverse actors all around the world. I am glad to see that they are getting more recognition and being pushed into light more and more.

I like the idea of a broader range of people feeling seen.

There are actors who have never gotten an Oscar and have done amazing work.

It can be very challenging to be what you can't see. Think about it in the physical world. You walk into a room, and no one looks like you. Can you relate to them? Do you feel welcome? Let's stop talking about how men dominate the technology industry and instead focus on the women who are killing it.