Viola Davis wants to put her spotlight on something else.
The Oscar-nominated actress is teaming up with Vaseline for the Healing Project, a partnership with Direct Relief that aims to supply dermatological care and medical supplies to people living in poverty or crisis areas.
For Davis, who grew up extremely poor in Central Falls, Rhode Island, the issue is personal.
"I always feel like I'm motivated by the child in me that lived in poverty," Davis tells Mashable.
There was only one health clinic in the area, Davis says. When it was full, or out of supplies, she and her siblings would have to wait in the nearby emergency room, waiting for five or six hours to get help.
"Nobody considers you when you’re poor," she says. "You’re made invisible."
Of course, Davis is far from invisible now. The actress is currently the star of smash hit drama series How to Get Away with Murder, recently picking up Emmy and SAG awards for her lead role as complicated lawyer Annalise Keating.
Davis sat down with Mashable to chat about her charity work -- she would love it if you donated or built a relief kit here -- and acting work, as well as everything from where she keeps all her trophies to her struggle with equal pay.
Where do you keep your SAG and Emmy now?
I don’t keep it anywhere. If it were me, I would have it in the closet somewhere, I would ship it to my mom. My husband however, he’s the alpha male [laughs] ... he has all the awards on the shelf in the office.
I made him move a lot of the stuff into the garage or throw it away, like pictures. It’s just too much. It’s not my style.
Speaking of the SAGs, that was an amazing night. Uzo Aduba won, Idris Elba won, so many other people of color won... Do you see that as the future of awards shows?
The future of acting is awarding the performance that people felt was very effective, whether it comes from a person of color or not, and that awards show reflected that. It’s time for art to reflect life and not commerce.
I remember Meryl Streep saying this during Doubt. Someone said ‘so Meryl what story do you want to tell next?’ And she said ‘well, how many people are in this room? How many people are in this world?’ I kind of feel the same way about myself. There’s a lot of stories I want to tell, man.
There’s no limit that I want to put on my life, on myself. I think that’s the future of where we want to see Hollywood. And that’s diversity. That’s what we’re waiting for. However you see Caucasian actors is how you should see actors of color.
Exactly the same way."However you see Caucasian actors is how you should see actors of color."
I know you've talked about the Oscars. Are you going to watch the show, or go this year?
Probably, because I want to see Chris Rock. I love Chris Rock.
Listen, the problem is not with the Oscars. It’s much bigger than that. I mean, I know it says '#OscarsSoWhite,' I understand that’s what people are into.
It overly simplifies an issue that’s much larger than that. It’s about the movies that are being greenlit. There’s a business part of show business.
They’re greenlighting those movies because they know they make money in the international market. It’s a much more complicated discussion. The issue is with the moves that are being made.
We just need to be seen more expansively, and that starts with what you plop down money to see at the movie theater too. That’s on white people and black people.
Speaking of equality: I have a colleague who's writing about equal pay. Is that something you've tackled a lot, or had to deal with?
I have to be honest with you. I believe in equal pay, first of all. I’m sorry, if a woman does the same job as a man, she should be paid the same amount of money. She just should. That’s just the way the world should work. What are you telling your daughter when she grows up? ‘You've got to just understand that you’re a girl. You have a vagina, so that’s not as valuable.’ What are you telling her?
But at the same time, with me as an actress of color, I have to say to probably contradict myself, that’s not something I think about on a daily basis. Because the struggle for us as women of color is just to be seen the same as our white female counterparts.
Forget the men! We’re not even in that realm yet. And I have to say there are enough people out there, I do believe this, that run studios, that are involved with studios and I think that they’ll get it. I really do. They will, they’ll get it."The struggle for us as women of color is just to be seen the same as our white female counterparts."
That's a fair point, too, that as an actress of color, the pay isn't even equal to white actresses.
Yeah. It’s like talking to someone who lives in poverty! ‘You don’t want that Bentley?’ They’re like ‘Shoot, I’m just trying to get bus fare money.’
Are there any moments in [How to Get Away with Murder] you're especially excited for us to see?
Episode 15 has my favorite scene from all two seasons.
I can’t say anything more than that. But it’s got my absolute favorite scene, above the wig scene, above being shot by Wes. I think it’s going to be very touching. And episode 14 also has a scene that is probably my second best favorite scene.
Shooting HTGAWM has completely changed my life. Because once again, you can’t shine if you’re the third girl from the left. It’s good being number one.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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