VIDEO: Viola Davis Talks About Playing Ma Rainey on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!

MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM was released today on Netflix!

By: Dec. 18, 2020

Viola reveals her favorite Christmas song, and talks about the moment she realized she was going to be an actress, her mom inviting 40 extra people to her wedding, her new movie "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," the late great Chadwick Boseman, getting an amazing note and gifts from Oprah, her ten-year-old daughter's Christmas list, and her husband's birthday falling on December 24th.

Watch the clip from "Jimmy Kimmel Live" below!

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" was released on Netflix today.

When Ma Rainey, the "Queen of the Blues," makes a record in a studio in Chicago, 1927, tensions boil between her, her white agent and producer, and bandmates.

Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's play, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society's prejudices dictate their worth. Directed by George C. Wolfe and adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the film is produced by Fences Oscar® nominees Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown co-star alongside Grammy® winner Branford Marsalis' score.

Viola Davis began her acting career in Central Falls, Rhode Island, starring in minor theater productions. After graduating from the Juilliard School in 1993, she won an Obie Award in 1999 for her performance as Ruby McCollum in Everybody's Ruby. She played minor roles in several films and television series in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Tonya in the 2001 Broadway production of August Wilson's King Hedley II. Davis's film breakthrough came in 2008, when her role as a troubled mother in the film Doubt earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Greater success came to Davis in the 2010s. She won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Rose Maxson in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences. For starring as a 1960s housemaid in the comedy-drama The Help (2011), Davis received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a SAG Award. In 2014, Davis began playing lawyer Annalise Keating in the ABC television drama series How to Get Away with Murder, and in 2015, she became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. In 2016, Davis played Amanda Waller in the superhero film Suicide Squad and its upcoming sequel and reprised the role of Maxson in the film adaptation of Fences, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to receive a BAFTA nomination for starring in the heist film Widows (2018).

Jimmy Kimmel serves as host and executive producer of Emmy®-nominated "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," ABC's late-night talk show. "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is well known for its huge viral video successes, with over 11 billion views and more than 15 million subscribers on the show's YouTube channel. Some of Kimmel's most popular comedy bits include "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets," "Lie Witness News," "Unnecessary Censorship," "Halloween Candy YouTube Challenge," and music videos like "I (Wanna) Channing All Over Your Tatum."






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