Viola Davis says Hollywood is a ‘vast desert’ for black women over 50

While attending the cannes film festival on Friday, Viola Davis she expressed her frustration with the roles available to black women in Hollywood.

“When it comes to black women who are over 50, that’s when [the lack of interesting roles] it’s troublesome. That’s when it’s a vast desert,” the EGOT winner, who most recently played Michael Jordan’s mother, Deloris Johnson, in “Air,” said People. “Women are no longer asking for a seat at the table, they are creating their own.”

“Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kerry Washington, Issa Rae… Halle Berry, Keke Palmer, we can go on and on, even Marsai Martin, who has what, 18?” she added. “They are empowering themselves by understanding that they are the change they want to see.”

Without a doubt, Davis has helped pave the way for the younger generations of black women in Hollywood. and has become the most Oscar-nominated black woman of all time. And yet, Davis has witnessed firsthand a dearth of interesting roles for black women over 50.

“I play a lot of moms,” she told People. “Everyone wants me to play their mom. I have people who hug me in the street who call me mom.

However, Davis jumped at the chance to play Jordan’s mother, saying that Ben Affleck, who wrote and starred in “Air” alongside his friend Matt Damon, wisely crafted the character of Deloris Jordan as an undeniable key to success. of his son.

“I think the temptation came from it not being your normal role as a mother,” Davis told People. “He turned it around so that she was the one who negotiated the [multi-million dollar Nike] deal we know today. And that intrigued me. I like surprises.”

Michael Jordan signed a five-year contract worth $2.5 million in 1984 and he became a billionaire in 2014.

Davis added that black women constantly feel like they are being “pushed” to validate their worth. Davis, Who won However, his first Tony Award in 2001, an Emmy in 2015, a Grammy in 2023, and an Oscar in 2017 no longer feels like it.

“I don’t rush anymore,” he told People. “And it has nothing to do with my age and how long I’ve been in the business. It is a realization. It is a self-realization that value cannot be negotiated. I was born worthy. That is not on the table. What’s on the table?”

“Maybe you have to see it the way I see it.”