Viola Davis looks back on her humble beginnings as she celebrates her 55th birthday.
The Academy Award winner showed how far she has come in revealing her latest purchase of real estate: the entire South Carolina home she was born in 1965.
The How To Get Away With Murder talent shared a photo of the modest house on their social media, telling fans: ‘The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965. It is the birthplace of my story. Today at my 55th birthday …. I own it …. it all. ‘
From almost nothing: Viola Davis bought the house of South Carolina in which she was born to celebrate her 55th birthday on Tuesday. She was seen above in 2018
She continued with the Cherokee birth blessing, writing, “May you live long enough to know why you were born.”
Viola not only packed the house her grandmother once lived in, but she bought the land around it as well.
The residence of bare bones is said to have been part of a plantation earlier, meaning that the history of the property runs deep and dark.
Back in 2016, Viola talks about her birthplace with Entertainment Weekly.
While revealing that she was not there for long, the actress said that her simple start was integral to her understanding of herself and her family.
“I was not involved for long because I was the fifth child, so we moved shortly after I was born,” she explained. ‘I mean, I went back briefly to try, but still not aware of the history. I think I read one slave story from someone who was on that plantation something terrible.
‘160 acres of land, and my grandfather was a sharecropper. Most of my uncles and cousins, they are farmers. That is the choice they had, ‘she explained.
Success Story: The How To Get Away With Murder talent shared a photo of the modest house on her social media, telling fans: ‘It’s the birthplace of my story. Today in my 55th birthday …. I own it …. all of it ‘
The history of sharecropping in America has deep ties to slavery. While sharecroppers were emancipated men and women at the time of the reconstruction to slavery, they were only bound to the landowners (often former plantation owners) due to economic constraints.
Her grandparents ‘generation survived what they could, with Viola saying,’ My grandmother’s house was a one room loft. I have a picture of it on my phone because I think it is a beautiful image. ‘
Things were not glamorous for the family, who at that time had ‘no running water’ as a bathroom.
“It’s just an outdoor house,” she said. ‘But my mother says that the day I was born, all my aunts and uncles were in the house,’ she said, everyone drinking and laughing, and having fun. She said she ate a sardine, mustard, onion, tomato sandwich after I was born. ‘
“I love that story,” Davis continued. ‘It’s a great story for me. It’s a great story of celebration amidst what you feel would be a decimated environment, but you could see the joy and life that can come out of it, because it’s not always about things, you know. ‘
Internship: Viola began her career in small theater, earning a place at Julliard. Her career in Broadway led to two Tony’s before making the big leap to screen. She was seen in her award-winning turn in 2001’s King Hedley II above
No doubt about her talent: Viola deserves her first Oscar nomination for the 2008 doubts above. Eight years later, she would honor the Best Actress for Fences
Viola was eventually able to leave South Carolina, and her acting career began with theater in Rhode Island.
Her talent was enough to earn her a place at the venerable Juilliard School, from which she graduated in 1993.
She earned a Tony for her role as Tonya in August Wilson’s King Hedley II in 2001, but it took several more years for her to film.
After a string of minor TV and film roles, Viola earned her first Oscar nomination for Doubt in 2008. She was nominated for The Help in 2011. Then in 2016, she would take home the honor of Best Actress for The Fences.
Viola then made her mark in the TV world when she took on the role of lawyer Annalize Keating in the Shonda Rimes-produced drama How to Get Away with Murder.
She became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series after taking home the 2015 honor.
Viola currently has several projects in the works, including an untitled Harriet Tubman film and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a film about ‘Mother of Blue’ Ma Rainey.
Gold standard: Viola then made her mark in the TV world when she took on the role of lawyer Annalize Keating in the Shonda Rimes-produced drama How to Get Away with Murder. She became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series after taking home the 2015 honor,
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