This may be the most competitive year in female performances found on American television.
After Robin Wright’s subdued and terrifying return in House of Cards, Julianna Margulies’s last and final run in The Good Wife as Alicia Florrick and CIA agent Carrie Mathison’s European expedition, it seemed, for a moment, that no one could beat these three radically different, albeit marvelous performances but we have another contender now - Viola Davis.
In the second season of How to Get Away with Murder, which finished recently, Davis, who stars on the legal drama as Annalise Keating, has delivered the performance of a lifetime. In particular are the scenes between Davis and her mother when she heads home to recuperate from the trauma that is constant in her life.
Davis, who made history as the first African-American woman to win an Emmy Award for Lead Actress, recently made an appearance at the sixth annual Reynolda Film Festival where she spoke about her humble beginnings and stole the hearts of feminists everywhere.
“You never know what’s going to inspire you,” said Davis. “Inspiration comes from a lot of different places. I was determined to use all the bad things they said about me as fuel, and that’s exactly what I did.”
Talking to more than a thousand students, Davis remarked, “To overcome whatever obstacles you may be facing, you’ve got to dare to fail greatly. You have to dare to strip your heart away and show the world who you really are.”