Actress Viola Davis will receive the 2,596th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday for a film career that has brought her two Oscar nominations and whose latest film has made her a strong favorite for a third.
Meryl Streep, who co-starred with Davis in the 2008 drama “Doubt,” which brought Davis her first Oscar nomination, will join her in speaking at the 11:30 a.m. ceremony in front of the Marshalls store on Hollywood Boulevard, across from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Davis’ other Oscar nomination came in 2012 as best actress for her portrayal of heart-broken but stoic maid Aibileen Clark in the civil rights-era drama “The Help.”
Davis has received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for her portrayal of the wife of Denzel Washington’s character in “Fences,” a role that brought a second Tony.
Davis received her first Tony in 2001 for her role as a 35-year-old woman who is forced to fight for the right to abort an unwanted pregnancy work in another play by August Wilson, “King Hedley II.”
Davis is also the recipient of an outstanding lead actress in a drama series Emmy for her starring role in ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder,” the first African American to receive the award.
The ceremony comes two weeks before the midseason premiere of “How to Get Away With Murder.”
Born Aug. 11, 1965, in St. Matthews, South Carolina, and raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island, Davis began her acting career in theater after graduating from The Julliard School. She made her Broadway debut in 1996 in “Seven Guitars,” which was also written by Wilson.
Davis’ other stage credits include the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2004 off-Broadway production of Lynn Nottage’s play, “Intimate Apparel,” which brought her an Obie award.
Davis made her film debut in the 1996 publishing family drama “The Substance of Fire.” She received an Independent Spirit Award nomination in 2003 for her performance in “Antwone Fisher.”
Davis’ extensive film credits also include “Suicide Squad,” “Won’t Back Down,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “State of Play,” “Law Abiding Citizen,” “Eat, Pray, Love,” the Steven Soderbergh-directed films “Solaris,” “Traffic” and “Out of Sight,” and “Syriana,” which Soderbergh produced for director Stephen Gaghan.
