'How to Get Away with Murder' star Viola Davis says she always feels like a 'loser'

• comments
• 
• 

Viola Davis made headlines this year when she became the first African-American woman to be honored with an Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work in "How to Get Away with Murder." According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was Davis' first nomination and win, and the 50-year-old actress gave a moving speech about Hollywood diversity, crediting writers for their ability to create opportunities and roles for women of color to play.

"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity," Davis said during her acceptance speech. "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. Here's to all the writers...People who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black."

In a recent visit to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Davis spoke about her historical win and how a beauty pageant she participated in at age six made her feel like a loser, Entertainment Weekly reports.

"It's kinda not my style to keep hugging the trophy and sleep with the trophy, and kiss the trophy," David joked. "After I do that, I'm like, I'm over the trophy."

The actress then recalled losing in a Rhode Island beauty pageant when she was six years old, saying that that experience made her feel like, "In my brain, I always feel like loser. So when I win something, I’m like, 'This is great!'"

"I feel like I'm six again and instead of wetting my pants and drooling the way I did when I lost the contest..." she recalled. Colbert commented that the experience seems to haunt her until today and asked if it is one of the things that drives her to succeed, to which Davis said, "Yes! Absolutely!"

Meanwhile, Davis recently made an appearance at the Glamour's Women of the Year Awards, where she graced the stage to talk about those who were affected by the shooting in a church in Charleston, South Carolina in June, which resulted in the death of nine individuals.

Davis was on hand at the awards ceremony to honor Polly Sheppard, Alana Simmons, Nadine Collier, Felicia Sanders and Bethane Middleton-Brown, better known as "The Peacemakers of Charleston", women who have lost their loved ones to the tragic incident but chose to forgive the killer for his murderous act.

"I hope that there's continuous, honest, unbridled dialogue," Davis told People. "I hope for the people in power, that the dialogue results into active change of policies to move the race relations forward. It could be anything: in education, in media, anything that moves it forward so it doesn't look the same way it looked last year."

Catch Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating on "How to Get Away with Murder" every Thursday at 10/9c on ABC.