Viola Davis has been named as the recipient of the 2018 Sherry Lansing Award. Given annually to “a woman who has been a trailblazer and philanthropic leader in her industry,” the honor bears the name of the first woman to head a Hollywood studio. Lansing formerly served as President of Production at 20th Century Fox and Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. Davis will receive the award at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast, a press release announced. The event will take place December 5 in LA.
Davis is a “leader in the childhood hunger space where she uses her own experience and story of strength to shift the discourse around the issue. From 2014 to 2017, Davis served as an Ambassador for the charitable initiative Hunger Is, raising more than $20 million to provide meals for children all over the country, the release notes. “Davis has also worked to end poverty in her hometown of Central Falls, Rhode Island; she has donated to its public library; her high school alma mater; and the Segue Institute for Learning, a charter school. Through her partnership with the Vaseline Healing Project, Davis returned to Central Falls in 2016 to launch a free health clinic for residents unable to afford health care.”
The Oscar-winning “Fences” actress is also being recognized for speaking out against racism, inequality, and sexual violence in Hollywood. “I always say that one thing missing in cinema is that regular black woman,” the “Help” star said in a recent interview. “Not anyone didactic, or whose sole purpose in the narrative is to illustrate some social abnormality. There’s no meaning behind it, other than she is just there.” The same profile saw her addressing the pay gap between white women and women of color.
Previous recipients of the Lansing Award include Oprah Winfrey, Tina Fey, and Shonda Rhimes.
“Now is the perfect time to honor a woman as bold and generous as Viola,” Lansing emphasized. “Over her remarkable two-decade career, Viola has remained steadfast in her support for marginalized communities, while cultivating one of the greatest bodies of work in the industry. She’s a motivating and refreshing voice in Hollywood when we need it most, and I couldn’t be more excited to honor her at the Women in Entertainment breakfast.”
Davis can be seen on the big screen in heist thriller “Widows,” out November 16, and on the small screen in legal drama “How to Get Away with Murder,” currently in its fifth season on ABC.
