Variety Showcases Viola Davis and Stacey Abrams for Its Black Women of Awards Season Issue
Viola Davis and Stacey Abrams may come from different professions, but both women are using their power as Black Women to elevate their voice.
In Variety’s Black Women of Awards Season’ issue, cover stars Davis and Abrams sat down to discuss representation in Hollywood, ending voter suppression, and other pertinent topics of conversation.
Davis, a mainstay during Awards Season, is generating a ton of Oscar-buzz for her performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, in which she was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Meanwhile, Abrams is making her Awards Season debut as a producer with All In: The Fight for Freedom, an American documentary film directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés.
Black Women of Awards Season is gorgeous! Congrats and an amazing story by Angelique Jackson & Jazz Tangcay!
— Clayton Davis (@AwardsCircuit) February 17, 2021
Viola Davis and Stacey Abrams on Oscar Season, Politics and Wielding Their Power as Black Women https://t.co/AMp1bT2vXW via @variety @angelique814 @jazzt #FilmTwitter
Davis is an actress best known for her record-making turn as Annalise Keating in How to Get Away With Murder. She is the first Black person to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting after winning an Academy Award in 2016, a Primetime Emmy in 2015, and two Tony Awards in 2001 and 2010.
Abrams is a voting rights activist who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007-2017. In 2018, she made history as the first Black woman to be a major-party gubernatorial nominee. She founded an organization to stop voter suppression, Fair Fight Action. Her efforts, in conjunction with Fair Fight Action, are credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE !!!!!!!
— vittorioCrowley (@CrowleyVittorio) February 17, 2021
In Variety’s exclusive interview, the two women discussed their beginnings, work, and legacy. Davis discussed her revelation with the end of How to Get Away With Murder.
“I got How to Get Away With Murder, and that’s when my career shifted,” David said. “And all I was, was exhausted. I sat next to a life strategist at a party. I said, ‘Why is it that so many people on the top seem miserable?’ And he said, ‘Viola, because they thought that they hit it. That success was the top. But it’s not. It’s significance. It’s transcendence. It’s leaving a legacy.’ My head exploded because that’s what it is: It’s leaving a legacy.”
Viola Davis praises Stacey Abrams: “I’ve always wanted to lead a life of significance… That’s what Stacey Abrams means to me. My God, she shifted the whole election; she shifted the whole state of Georgia” https://t.co/HMDcssrv0F pic.twitter.com/4jRwP7uSyT
— Variety (@Variety) February 17, 2021
Moreover, Abrams highlighted the issue of racism and how it shapes and manipulates America society.
“There is a disease of racism that is embedded in the veins of America,” Abrams said. “There is a disease of bigotry that winds its way throughout how we’ve made our rules and who has access — [plus] sexism, homophobia, this broader construct of xenophobia. I want us to remember that America is this extraordinary ideal, but it’s also an attempt every day to be better, to acknowledge, to reconcile the whole of who we are. By ourselves, none of us are powerful enough to get it done. But together, we make progress.”
Both women are game-changers in their own fields, redefining success and achievement. They are consistently changing the conservations they are apart of. Viewers can read their iconic interview on Variety.
Writer | Tweet me @Emily_N_Wolfe
