Viola Davis explained how an on-set conversation with Will Smith gave her a fresh perspective on issues she’d been dealing with for decades.
In an excerpt from her new memoir Finding Me — which was shared by USA Today — she revealed that Smith simply asked her, “Viola, who are you?”
“Look, I’m always going to be that 15-year-old boy whose girlfriend broke up with him,” Smith confided. “That’s always going to be me. So, who are you?”
Davis wrote in a reply: “There I was, a working actress with steady gigs, Broadway credits, multiple industry awards, and a reputation of bringing professionalism and excellence to any project. Hell, Oprah knew who I was.
“Yet, sitting there conversing with Will Smith, I was still that little, terrified, third-grade Black girl.”
Meanwhile, the 56-year-old actress recently insisted critics “serve no purpose” as she responded to negative feedback about her portrayal of Michelle Obama in the Showtime series “The First Lady.”
“Critics absolutely serve no purpose. And I’m not saying that to be nasty, either.
“They always feel like they’re telling you something that you don’t know. Somehow that you’re living a life where you’re surrounded by people who lie to you and ‘I’m going to be the person that leans in and tells you the truth.’ So it gives them an opportunity to be cruel to you.”
Davis suggested she’s in a no-win situation playing the former first lady, while the Oscar-winning actress also sees criticism as an occupational hazard.
“How do you move on from the hurt, from failure? But you have to. Not everything is going to be an awards-worthy performance,” she said.
Earlier this month, Davis revealed she found playing Obama to be “absolutely terrifying.”
“You’re terrified whenever you start a job because you are afraid you are going to be found out — that’s big imposter syndrome. But with Michelle Obama, it’s like everyone has ownership over Michelle Obama.
“I mean, her book came out and it was [on every] bestseller list, everyone knows what she looks like what she sounds like, what her hair [is like], you know?” Davis said.
