{"id":548279,"date":"2023-02-06T02:55:44","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T23:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book\/"},"modified":"2023-02-06T02:55:44","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T23:55:44","slug":"viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book\/","title":{"rendered":"#Viola Davis goes EGOT with &#039;Finding Me&#039; Grammy win: Here&#039;s what we learned reading her book"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3d8f7caa25f\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3d8f7caa25f\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book\/#Viola_Davis_goes_EGOT_with_Finding_Me_Grammy_win_Heres_what_we_learned_reading_her_book\" >Viola Davis goes EGOT with &#039;Finding Me&#039; Grammy win: Here&#039;s what we learned reading her book<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book\/#Viola_Davis_childhood_was_marked_by_poverty_abuse_and_rats\" >Viola Davis\u2019 childhood was marked by poverty, abuse and rats<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book\/#Cicely_Tyson_showed_Davis_the_way_racism_tried_to_keep_her_down\" >Cicely Tyson showed Davis the way, racism tried to keep her down<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/viola-davis-goes-egot-with-finding-me-grammy-win-heres-what-we-learned-reading-her-book\/#Even_Davis_was_starstruck_by_George_Clooney_and_Meryl_Streep\" >Even Davis was starstruck by George Clooney and Meryl Streep<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Viola_Davis_goes_EGOT_with_Finding_Me_Grammy_win_Heres_what_we_learned_reading_her_book\"><\/span>Viola Davis goes EGOT with &#039;Finding Me&#039; Grammy win: Here&#039;s what we learned reading her book<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Viola Davis evokes glamour.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 56-year-old\u00a0Oscar-, Emmy- Tony- and now Grammy-winning actor\u00a0is\u00a0the first Black woman to win the acting <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>le crown, so it&#8217;s no surprise her name frequently <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ears alongside Meryl Streep&#8217;s in any serious conversation about our greatest living actresses. She&#8217;s a frequent show-stopper on the red carpet, was named\u00a0spokeswoman for beauty brand\u00a0L&#8217;Or\u00e9al and plays\u00a0first lady Michelle Obama in the new Showtime <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> &#8220;The First Lady.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But Davis&#8217; raw\u00a0memoir\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/finding-me-viola-davis?variant=39442325798946\">&#8220;Finding Me&#8221;<\/a> (HarperOne, 304 pp.),\u00a0which was released in April 2022 and won Davis a Grammy for narrating the audiobook, reveals anything but glamour on her path to\u00a0fame and glory.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear from the first page that Davis is going to serve a more intimate, unpolished account than\u00a0is typical of the average (often ghost-written) celebrity memoir; \u201cFinding Me\u201d reads like Davis is sitting you down for a one-on-one conversation about her life, warts and all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">Viola Davis joins EGOT club: <\/strong>&#8216;It has been such a journey&#8217;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the beginning, she recalls how\u00a0in the third grade \u201ceight or nine white boys in my class made it their daily, end-of-school ritual to chase me like dogs hunting prey.\u201d They would throw things\u00a0\u2013 pine cones, rocks, even bricks \u2013 and call her names and racial slurs. When she ran from them, she felt like she was running for her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She writes of an \u201caha\u201d moment she had decades later\u00a0talking with co-star Will Smith on the set of \u201cSuicide Squad\u201d when the actor asked her, \u201cViola, who are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What did he mean, she asked?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, I\u2019m always going to be that 15-year-old boy whose girlfriend broke up with him,\u201d Smith told her. \u201cThat\u2019s always going to be me. So, who are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Davis writes, \u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what we learned about Davis reading her memoir.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">&#8216;A darkness arose within me&#8217;: <\/strong>Will Smith writes of abusive dad, wanting\u00a0to &#8216;avenge&#8217; his mom<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt='\"Finding Me,\" by Viola Davis' data-uuid=\"0c74c0bd-927f-3af2-a89a-93068a6c8d3a\" height=\"2775\" id=\"7393971001\" src=\"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_usatoday_us_articles_590\/506e3ad0b1877731b6eb8438977181f7\" width=\"1836\"><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Viola_Davis_childhood_was_marked_by_poverty_abuse_and_rats\"><\/span>Viola Davis\u2019 childhood was marked by poverty, abuse and rats<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Davis was born the fifth of six children on a plantation in St. Matthews, South Carolina, into deep, dysfunctional poverty. When her family relocated to Central Falls, Rhode Island, they moved into a dilapidated home where they frequently went without electricity, gas, hot water or a phone.<\/p>\n<p>No money and the freezing cold meant laundry would often go unwashed for weeks. \u201cThat, compounded with the bed-wetting, made for a home with a horrific smell,\u201d Davis writes. And it was infested with rats. \u201cIn fact, the rats were so bad, they ate the faces off my dolls.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Her father was an abusive alcoholic who had frequent affairs. She writes of one memorable encounter when her father took her to a woman&#8217;s apartment and she opened the door naked. Things were not better when he stayed home with his family, though. Davis writes unsparingly of her father\u2019s physical abuse, which he primarily directed at their mother. Of one such early incident, Davis writes, \u201cThen he just swung his hand and smashed the glass on the side of my mom\u2019s head and I saw the glass slice the upper side of her face near her eye and blood just squirted out. A lot of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her father wasn\u2019t the only abusive member of the Davis house. \u201cMy three sisters and I\u2026 were often left unsupervised with my brother in our apartment \u2013 sexual curiosity would cross the line,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cHe would chase us. We would lose. And eventually other inappropriate behavior occurred that had a profound effect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Viola Davis poses for a portrait at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018.\" data-uuid=\"8fa8f02b-50ce-3cd9-907d-e8741ccf865a\" height=\"3941\" id=\"7446918001\" src=\"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_usatoday_us_articles_590\/8d1267c2cd34b3101fa1d11f5aa9cd76\" width=\"5916\"><\/p>\n<p>For all her trauma, Davis writes with loving forgiveness of her family: they \u201cdid the best they could with what they were given.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is an emotional abandonment that comes with poverty and being Black,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cThe weight of generational trauma and having to fight for your basic needs doesn\u2019t leave room for anything else. You just believe you\u2019re the leftovers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cicely_Tyson_showed_Davis_the_way_racism_tried_to_keep_her_down\"><\/span>Cicely Tyson showed Davis the way, racism tried to keep her down<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So how was Davis able to overcome so much trauma in a system rigged against her to become one of our most celebrated living actors?<\/p>\n<p>It began with Cicely Tyson. Davis recalls something magical happened when a woman as Black as her appeared on their TV one night: Tyson in \u201cThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe had a long neck and was beautiful, dark-skinned, glistening with sweat, high cheek- bones, thick, full lips, and a clean, short Afro,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cIt was like a hand reached for mine and I finally saw my way out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">&#8216;It changed our lives forever&#8217;: <\/strong>Molly Shannon opens new memoir with accident that killed mother, sister<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tyson lit the spark and Davis did the work, but a handful of teachers and mentors played key roles making sure she succeeded. When she was a teenager, she began taking acting classes through the federally funded education program Upward Bound, and there met her first important acting coach, Ron Stetson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One day, Stetson overheard Davis and her sister\u00a0mention that they weren\u2019t pretty.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWait! You both don\u2019t think you\u2019re pretty?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou both are (expletive) beautiful! I always thought that. You don\u2019t see it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was something Davis had needed to hear her whole life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s that life-changing thing that happens when you\u2019re seen, valued, and adored,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cWhen you are a dark-skin girl, no one simply adores you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That validation of her Black beauty came at a crucial time, but was hard to find elsewhere. When she got into acting school at prestigious Juilliard in New York, she was one of only 30 Black students, out of 856 students total.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was arduous listening and watching white guest actors perform, white playwrights coming in to speak, white projects, white characters, a European approach to the work, speech, voice, movement,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cEveryone was geared toward molding and shaping you into a perfect white actor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All that classical training and little practical application for Davis as she auditioned for parts in Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every role I auditioned for were drug-addicted mothers,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cNot a lot of filmmakers are looking for trained Black actors to play drug addicts. Those actors are told that they\u2019re not Black enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did a huge slate of what I call &#8216;best friends to white women&#8217; roles,\u201d Davis writes, referencing her roles opposite Diane Lane in \u201cNights in Rodanthe\u201d and Julia Roberts in \u201cEat Pray Love.\u201d Even after her Oscar nominations for \u201cDoubt\u201d and \u201cThe Help,\u201d she wasn\u2019t getting offered desirable leading roles \u2013\u00a0not until Shonda Rhimes cast her in the career-changing, Emmy-winning lead role of ABC\u2019s \u201cHow to Get Away With Murder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Black women, we are complicated. We are feminine. We are sexual. We are beautiful. We\u2019re pretty. There are people out there who desire us. We are deserving,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cSo that\u2019s why I\u2019m very aware of what my presence means.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt='Viola Davis plays first lady Michelle Obama in the new Showtime series, \"The First Lady.\"' data-uuid=\"1b9ea875-0031-3d4c-80bf-d3d8eb8e825b\" height=\"533\" id=\"7351758001\" src=\"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_usatoday_us_articles_590\/c6254c28e1a96a17e2a9ab39f3dfb1c6\" width=\"800\"><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Even_Davis_was_starstruck_by_George_Clooney_and_Meryl_Streep\"><\/span>Even Davis was starstruck by George Clooney and Meryl Streep<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For all her star power, Davis is not immune to getting starstruck herself \u2013 like the time George Clooney invited her to stay at his palatial Italian villa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeorge was and is the nicest human being,\u201d Davis writes. The two had starred together in the 2002 film \u201cSolaris\u201d; later, at the premiere of her film \u201cFar From Heaven,\u201d she mentioned to Clooney that she and her partner Julius Tennon had just been married.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen, when you guys are ready, come to my villa in Italy,&#8221; Clooney told her. &#8220;You can stay for free and I\u2019ll send someone to pick you up from the airport.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She was shy, but she couldn\u2019t not take Clooney up on the offer. When she and her husband flew into Milan, Clooney sent a car to pick them up for one of the most magical vacations of her life, dining on gourmet meals while overlooking Lake Como.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like I was in \u2018The Great Gatsby,\u2019\u201d Davis writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She was even less chill when she was cast alongside Meryl Streep in the 2008 film \u201cDoubt,\u201d for which they\u2019d both be nominated for Oscars. She was in full freak-out mode before their first rehearsal together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got two yellow cans of homeopathic stress relief tablets from the health food store and downed one can in less than an hour. I was that nervous, terrified,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cShe simply is seen as the best, and acting opposite her agitates the biggest beast that lives within every actor&#8230; the impostor syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Davis found in Streep a kindred artistic spirit committed to the craft \u2013 and a new friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually, we had the best conversations. About life, about her kids, and about the work. It was perfection,\u201d Davis writes. \u201cIn between scenes, she\u2019d share a chocolate with me. We ate a lot of chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viola Davis goes EGOT with &#8216;Finding Me&#8217; memoir: What we learned<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/books\/2022\/04\/26\/viola-davis-memoir-finding-me-revelations\/7446179001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Viola Davis goes EGOT with &#039;Finding Me&#039; Grammy win: Here&#039;s what we learned reading her book Viola Davis evokes glamour.\u00a0 The 56-year-old\u00a0Oscar-, Emmy- Tony- and now Grammy-winning actor\u00a0is\u00a0the first Black woman to win the acting triple crown, so it&#8217;s no surprise her name frequently appears alongside Meryl Streep&#8217;s in any serious conversation about our greatest&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":548280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_usatoday_us_articles_590\/506e3ad0b1877731b6eb8438977181f7","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}