Viola Davis is one of the best known actresses of her generation, and only the second African-American actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. She has a new movie coming out, ‘Won’t Back Down’ co-starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, and she has an interview with the SF Gate promoting that along with discussing the progress of her career.
She says, “"I had an image of what I wanted to be as an actor, and I never saw my sex or my race as an obstacle in seeing those dreams come to fruition."
She also talks about being voted as one of Times’ most influential people in 2012, with a tribute by Cicely Tyson, to which Davis says, “"Oh, it's very, very heavy stuff. I don't take it too seriously because I don't find myself to be that extraordinarily influential. I'm trying to convince my daughter to eat her pasta. But when I go back to Central Falls (R.I.), which is my hometown, which is bankrupt, which is a struggling town, a fabulous town, I'm aware that young people look at everything I do. I really am. And whether I choose to pick up the baton or not, I am a role model. And I have the power to plant some seed in them. I'm aware of that."
