This year’s Cannes Film Festival will honor Viola Davis as the first black woman to receive the Kering Group’s Women in Motion Award, Variety reports.
On Sunday, May 22, 2022, Davis will receive the award at the official Women in Motion dinner in Cannes.
A panel of judges praised Davis for her work on stage and screen, as well as her advocacy for women’s and minorities’ rights. It was said that she had been “one of the most influential American actresses and producers of her era”
“Her talent, hard work, choice of roles, and the way she interprets them have earned her the very highest in the film industry,” they continued.
It was also mentioned in passing that Davis is one of the few people in Hollywood to have won the Golden Globe, the British Academy Film and Television Award, four SAG Awards, and what is known as the “Triple Crown of Acting,” which consists of two Tony Awards, an Academy Award, and an Emmy for her roles in King Hedley II, Fences, and the film adaptation thereof, as well as the television series How to Get Away with Murder.
Showtime’s The First Lady has Davis currently portraying Michelle Obama on screen. A New York Times bestseller, her autobiography, Finding Me, was released just a few months ago.
