Viola Davis

Conceivably one of the most painful recitations of brutal poverty I've ever read (like Dickens, with racism), Viola Davis manages to rise above her Central Falls, RI origins to the heights of acting awards and triumph over the most inconceivable obstacles. She is not shy about revealing the life-long damage from the abuse she's suffered as she shares the intense efforts that she and her four sisters were able to muster, with minimal support from parents, school, or community. The most tender show more part has her watching Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman on TV and deciding to follow in her path. In fact, in an accompanying photo of her with Tyson, Davis says, "I secretly used every opportunity to hold and kiss her." Davis uses her bully pulpit to focus on colorism and on how more difficult is the path of Black women with darker skin, who "didn't have smaller, classical (read whiter) features. That wasn't me."

Quotes: “I didn’t understand the living in New York City. I just thought all the apartments looked like George Jefferson’s apartment.”

“ I did a huge slate of what I call “best friends to white women” roles. Hollywood has a love affair with those, but they’re in Black rom-coms, too.”

“In the same way that I didn’t care about acting being hard. Hard was relative to me.” show less

Powerful, Raw, and Deeply Human

Finding Me by Viola Davis is a soul-baring memoir that grabs you from the very first page. With unflinching honesty, Davis takes us through the poverty, abuse, and systemic racism she endured, and overcame, on her path to becoming one of the most acclaimed actors of our time. Her voice is fierce, vulnerable, and full of purpose.

What makes this memoir stand out isn’t just her Hollywood success, but her deep emotional intelligence. She reflects on trauma, show more healing, identity, and the journey to self-love with grace and grit. Her storytelling is cinematic and deeply personal, you feel every moment she lived.

This book isn’t just about fame. It’s about survival, truth, and reclaiming your narrative. Viola Davis doesn’t just tell her story; she owns it, and in doing so, she invites you to own yours too. show less

A great memoir and a great black American story. Though someone could call it an American dream story because from the deepest poverty against the fiercest adversity Viola Davis with her strong will and hard work made it to the top. However, I don't really see it as such. Viola often talks about luck or call it God if you want because 99% could have done exactly the same and still not succeeded. It also makes you think about the privilege and anti-privilege and how unequal starting grounds show more are for different people, how deeply rooted is racism and misogyny, to the point of roles available for black women.

It's also not an American dream story because Viola wouldn't have made it out of poverty and Central Falls, Rhode Island without help, for example, if there wasn't The Rhode Island College Upward Bound Program and the mentorship program. It makes one really appreciate how necessary such programs are and how wrong the white racist critique is that all students should be accepted based purely on merit.

I also really loved Viola's musings on family, parents and love. She is a wonderful, wise woman and we can all learn a lot from her. Her childhood experience is horrific but there is so much love. It took her many years of therapy, though, to find, accept and love herself. show less

now this is a memoir. one of the most impactful audiobooks i’ve ever listened to in my life - powerful, heart wrenching, brutal, generous. Viola Davis tells all! i really enjoyed how each chapter flowed into each other. there were no abruptions which made her story clearer. and boy did Viola Davis have a story to tell. she shares so many experiences that have shaped who she is. from the outside trying to fully understand her life story and how she survived traumatic conditions for years is show more staggering. throughout the book Viola Davis was not venting her anger, airing her wounds, asking for pity or going after revenge, but instead she simply tells the facts, the ugly and unapologetic stories from early childhood to present day. from poverty and hardships like you’ve never heard, shyness, shame and unworthiness, unbelievable abuse both at home and in life, to the lioness hard working kick ass, talented, determined, authentic powerhouse inspiring human being Viola Davis is. i found myself wanting to stand up, cheer, laugh, scream, cry and root for Viola. i wanted to celebrate her joy, her eye-opening insight, her passion, her love, her loyalty to truth, her integrity, her authenticity, her boldness, bravery, and discovery into finding herself! it’s wonderfully remarkable to celebrate this outstanding woman show less