Viola Davis won the award for Best Actress In A TV Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night, one of only three women of color to take home the prize, and she used her acceptance speech to remind Hollywood that it’s totally possible to cast a 49 year old dark skinned woman in a non-stereotypical role and still win.
The “How To Get Away With Murder” star thanked producers (including Shonda Rhimes) for thinking a “mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old, dark-skinned, African-American woman who looks like me.” She also took a jab at the NY Times who referred to her as less classically beautiful, “Thank you Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers and Peter Nowalk for thinking of a leading lady who looks like my ‘classic beauty’. I’m so proud to be an actor and so happy to do what I do. And I’m so happy that people have accepted me in this role at this stage in my career.”
Watch her speech below.
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