Viola Davis paid tribute to How to Get Away With Murder’s producers for casting a “49-year-old dark skinned African-American woman who looks like me” at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.
The 49-year-old actress fought back the tears while giving her acceptance speech for her Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series prize at the ceremony while appearing to hit back at a critic who had previously claimed she didn’t look like “the typical star of a network drama”.
Speaking in Los Angeles, she said: “I’d like to thank Paul Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Besty Beers and Pete Nowalk… for thinking that a sexualised, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark-skinned African-American woman who looks like me.” - BANG Showbiz