Viola Davis talks protests, diversity in Hollywood: 'I feel like my entire life has been a protest'
Viola Davis is opening about protesting and the challenges of being a Black woman in Hollywood.
In a cover interview with "Vanity Fair," published Tuesday, the actress, 54, explained that she, her husband Julius Tennon, fellow actor Yvette Nicole Brown and more protested together on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. They wore masks and Davis held a sign that read: “AHMAUD ARBERY.”
“We said we’d just be out there for a few minutes, and it ended up being hours, hours,” Davis explained. “Almost like a big dam bursting open. We got a lot of beeps... We got a few fingers. But this was the first time the fingers did not bother me.”
She also had a powerful answer when asked if she had protested like this before.
“I feel like my entire life has been a protest. My production company is my protest. Me not wearing a wig at the Oscars in 2012 was my protest," she said. "It is a part of my voice, just like introducing myself to you and saying, ‘Hello, my name is Viola Davis.’”
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Davis also talked about diversity in Hollywood, explaining that younger Black actresses are fighting to be seen.
“There’s not enough opportunities out there to bring that unknown, faceless Black actress to the ranks of the known. To pop her!” she said, reportedly naming other actresses including Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Stewart. "Fabulous white actresses (who have had) a wonderful role for each stage of their lives, that brought them to the stage they are now. We can’t say that for many actors of color.”
She also talked about the inclusiveness of media as a whole, calling out the magazine's own history.
“They’ve had a problem in the past with putting Black women on the covers,” she said. “But that’s a lot of magazines, that’s a lot of beauty campaigns. There’s a real absence of dark-skinned Black women. When you couple that with what’s going on in our culture, and how they treat Black women, you have a double whammy. You are putting us in a complete cloak of invisibility.”
This isn't the first time the Oscar-winning actress discussed what it's like for woman of color trying to succeed in Hollywood.
She articulated the struggle with a horrifying bit of imagery while accepting the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast in December 2018.
You know the scene in "The Exorcist" where Linda Blair is tied to the bed, clearly possessed by demons, and has "Help me" written on her stomach?
"That’s how I feel every day in this Hollywood community and in my life in trying to live my authentic life," Davis said, comparing the movie's evil to the negative forces she faces daily while mustering the courage to speak out.
Contributing: Carly Mallenbaum, USA TODAY
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viola Davis talks protests, diversity in media in Vanity Fair issue
