Oscar nominee Viola Davis has been cast as Amanda Waller, the tough as nails Director of the Suicide Squad.
“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise!!!”
— Viola Davis (@violadavis) September 20, 2014
While not yet official, Latino Review reports Ms. Davis is close to signing on while the details are worked out concerning her busy TV schedule starring in the hit series How to Get Away With Murder. For those unfamiliar with Ms.Davis impressive resume she has worked with Director Steven Soderbergh on three projects – Traffic (2000), Solaris (2002) and Syriana (2005). Other projects include Far from Heaven (2002), Antwone Fisher (2002) and Disturbia (2007). In 2008, she played Mrs. Miller in Doubt (2008), for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. In 2011, she won critical acclaim for her starring role as Aibileen Clark in the box-office hit The Help (2011).
Actress Viola Davis daughter of Mary Alice, a maid, factory worker, and civil rights activist and Dan a horse trainer, was born on her grandmother’s farm, at the then-Singleton Plantation in St. Matthews, South Carolina. While still an infant the Davis family moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island. As a student at Central Falls High School young Viola developed a love of acting. She studied theater at Rhode Island College, and also attended the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. Ms. Davis made her screen debut with a small role as a nurse in The Substance of Fire (1996). Guest spots followed in various TV shows and films, and in 2000 she won the role of Nurse Lynnette Peeler in City of Angels (2000). In 2001, Davis appeared on Broadway in the play, ‘King Hedley II‘, for which she was awarded a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Ms.Davis acting chops are only eclipsed by her strength, intelligence and grace that were exemplified recently in the tweet above cribbed from Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise in response to a controversial New York Times Article that referred to Ms. Davis as “less classically beautiful”.
Her fearsomely brilliant criminal defense attorney and law professor Annalise Keating on How To Get Away With Murder is the latest hit show created by powerhouse producer Shonda Rhimes showcasing Black Women that bashes accepted stereotypes along with Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope on Scandal and Chandra Wilson’s Dr. Miranda Bailey on Greys Anatomy. Too bad for Oprah Winfrey fans, (I was pulling for her in the role myself) Olivia Spencer and CHH Pounder who voiced Waller in the DC Animated films were also rumored to be in consideration for Waller. I’m most pleased that there are no shortage of terrific Black Actresses that are finally getting recognition they long deserved. My hope is this role will serve as another example of why we need more staring roles for Black Actresses in Hollywood.
Directed by David Ayer Fury (2014) Suicide Squad movie cast includes Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Tom Hardy as Rick Flag, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, and Cara Delevingne as Enchantress.
Stay tuned to All Things Geek for more upcoming Suicide Squad news!
Cover Art ~ collider.com
Interior Art ~DC Comics