A four-time Academy Award nominee, the most nominated Black actress in history. Only the third Black woman in history to achieve EGOT (that is, having Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony to her name). Additionally, she is the sole African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. That’s Viola Davis for you.

Over the years, the 57-year-old Hollywood powerhouse has transcended her status of celebrated movie star and actor par excellence and become a voice that demands answers both as a woman and as a woman of colour, in the male-dominated business that she operates in.

At the Cannes Film Festival 2023, which she attends almost every year as a spokesperson and brand ambassador for global beauty brand L’Oréal Paris, Viola was a vision on the red carpet in a white Valentino Couture gown, complemented by her most invaluable accessory — her million-dollar smile.

Before that, she engaged in an in-depth chat with The Telegraph on being back at Cannes, what works for her association with L’Oréal Paris and why it is important for her to do things on her own terms.

Viola as General Nanisca in The Woman King

What does returning to the Cannes Film Festival and walking the red carpet for L’Oréal Paris every year mean to you?

For me, it means taking ownership of my beauty, which is very important for me as a person, as Viola. It’s one of the reasons why I joined L’Oréal Paris... it’s because of their moniker... their statement of ‘I am worth it’. If I were to personify worth, if I were to physical-ise it, it would definitely be a red-carpet moment! (Laughs) I have to say that most of my life has passed without really getting into that. So it’s good that at this point in my life, I am stepping into my beauty.

The theme for L’Oréal Paris at Cannes this year is ‘Walk Your Worth’, which means embracing one’s self-confidence. What significance do these words have for you as an actor, as a public persona, as a woman and as a human being?

Well, if I were to oversimplify it, I would say that’s what life is about. It’s about walking into your worth. A lot of times, it takes a lifetime to learn that. I think that many people don’t understand what that actually looks like. There is always the little spark of feeling hesitant about opening your mouth and using your voice.

There is always the feeling that you are going to be shamed. The feeling that you are going to put your story out there and people are going to boo you.

Walking your worth means really, really, really owning it... it’s courage. It’s not the absence of fear. Courage is fear said with prayers. My make-up artist, Sergio, who I love more than anyone else... one of the things he told me is: ‘Everything that you have ever dreamed of is on the other side of fear’ (smiles).

And sometimes when you walk it out, you burst through that door and you are still afraid of what you are going to gain from bursting through... you are going to be so much better than what you were before. So that’s what I think about when I think about walking your worth.

Can you talk about a few instances in your life and career where you have burst right through that door of self-doubt and owned it?

That’s probably been the story of my life! (Laughs) I have faked it. I really have... I faked it probably for most of my life. What I hoped for was way more powerful than what I left behind. I always wanted to be somebody. I knew that something was looming out there and I knew that life is not always about pleasure and joy. I know that it’s a combination of all of this as well as pain and when you are in the depth of pain, there’s going to be joy and hope on the other side of it.

When I did The Woman King (2022), I was terrified! At 56 years old, training five hours a day for three months and then we filmed for five months in South Africa... it certainly makes me look back and think: ‘What made me think I could do that?!’ But also, what made me think that I couldn’t do it? (Smiles)

Is it particularly challenging for a woman of colour in the world of cinema to constantly embrace self-confidence, and what is the key to doing it as well as you do it?

Yes... extraordinarily difficult! Because people have an idea of who we are, and they do not want to use their imagination. Our colour and our sex walk into a room before our humanness.

The key to doing it is just to do it. To taking ownership of your story and your dreams and wishes of the kind of actor you want to be, instead of falling in line and just becoming someone else. The idea is to belong to yourself... it’s fitting into yourself. So often, in our profession, we can become a walking smorgasbord or Mr Potato Head of male desirability or what the business sees us as being because we just want to fit in. And that’s not the key to doing it. You have to do it on your terms, especially once you have reached a certain level.

Viola Davis

The Lights on Women Initiative by L’Oreal Paris gives a voice and platform to rising female talents in cinema. How does it give a fillip to young talent and what do you think needs to be done to get more and more women to work on the creative aspects of film-making?

We need opportunity, we need options. Without opportunity, there is nothing. Without someone giving you a chance, there is no hope. There is talent and there is opportunity, and a lot of times people confuse the two. If you see anyone out there that has burst through is because they had the conduit through which to do it. And the reason why they need to be highlighted is because the power of being seen metastasises. And what it does is it inspires other people to do the same.

The Lights on Women Award recognises promising female short film-makers. The award attempts to create a path for women in film to advance their careers while also addressing the industry’s under-representation of women.

The thing that happens with women, women of colour especially, is that it’s easy for us to be invisible. In a male-dominated business, especially in a white male-dominated business, it is easy for them to ignore us. You can do a film that is made on a shoestring budget and because you are a woman and because maybe you haven’t done a lot before, it could be relegated to a movie theatre and be released on 10 screens. So it’s easy to sweep that woman and her work and her vision and what she lives for under the rug. Let’s pick the rug up and shine a light on her to show people that she really exists.

I didn’t even know of Miss Tyson (Cicely Tyson, known for her portrayal of strong African-American women) until I watched The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974). I didn’t know that she had that kind of talent. Because I saw her in that material is why I knew she had that talent. And that is why I became an actress.

Opportunity. Options. And we need to be seen. We need the spotlight. It’s infectious. We need to see a physical manifestation of who we want to become. Or else, we are just trying to dig it from within ourselves and we don’t see it.

Over the last few years, how have you seen the scenario change, even if it’s by a little, for women and women of colour in terms of representation in Hollywood over the last couple of years?

That’s a hard question because there is one year where you will see two or three or even more films... five, 10, 15 films... and the next year, nothing.I am not Hollywood. I am not the person who has the green light vote. I don’t give movies budgets. The gatekeepers are usually white male power. And they have never asked those questions... ever! And I think if they were put to task, you would see a significant change.

People like me, like Issa Rae, like Michaela Coel, Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kiki Palmer, Kerry Washington.... We are the people who have to be brave enough to be the change we want to see. We have to use any level of power that we have to a create sort of a wave, even if it’s a small wave, of change. We are not going to beg for a seat at the table anymore... we are going to pull up a folding chair (laughs). And I think that is what is different. In the past, when we have seen women achieve any power, we bask in the glow of it and we just feed ourselves.

You think that you are seeing a change because you are seeing actresses reach a certain height and saying: ‘It’s not enough. I have to leave a legacy of hope, of change, a shift....’