Viola Davis’ Net Worth Is Way Bigger Than Her Character Ma Rainey Ever Had in Real Life
For those wondering what Viola Davis‘ net worth looks like, get ready to find out. The Oscar-winning actress has been in the film and television industry for well over two decades, and during that time, she’s acquired an impressive amount of money. But how much are we talking, exactly?
Below we dive into all there is to know about Viola Davis’ net worth in 2021 following her critically lauded role in Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, where she stars as 1920s blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey alongside the late Chadwick Boseman, among others. The film, which premiered in late 2020, earned her an NAACP Image Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress at the Oscars 2021. With this nomination, Davis officially became the most nominated Black actress in Academy Award history, with a total of four acting nominations under her belt. She is also the first Black actress to have been nominated for Best Actress more than once.
Despite her history-making moves in Hollywood, Davis has had to speak out in the past about the racial and gendered wage gap that exists for her as a Black woman in the industry. “I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys, I’ve done Broadway, I’ve done off-Broadway, I’ve done TV, I’ve done film, I’ve done all of it,” Davis said during a Women of the World panel in 2018. “I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver,” she noted. “They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them, not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it.”
How does this reflect when it comes to Viola Davis’ net worth? Keep on reading for everything we know about Viola Davis’ net worth and salary details below.
What was Viola Davis’ How to Get Away With Murder salary?
Davis made roughly $250,000 per episode of HTGAWM, according to a 2016 report by Variety. With around 15 episodes per season, this means Davis’ salary for HTGAWM was up to $3.75 million each year.
How much was Viola Davis paid for The Help?
Though salary details for Viola Davis’ role in The Help have yet to be shared publicly, a recent interview with Vanity Fair revealed it may not have been worth what the actress hoped. “There’s no one who’s not entertained by The Help,” she told the magazine for their July 2020 cover story. “But there’s a part of me that feels like I betrayed myself, and my people, because I was in a movie that wasn’t ready to [tell the whole truth].” The film, which she has publically regretted since its release in 2011 for its portrayal of Black maids, is one she says was “created in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism.”
What is Viola Davis’ net worth in 2021?
Viola Davis’ net worth is estimated to be anywhere between $25 to $30 million in 2021, according to multiple net worth calculators. This amount is nearly 15-times more than what her character in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, earned in real life as a blues singer in 1920s Chicago. At the time of her death, Ma Rainey was worth an estimated $2 million.
While Viola Davis’ net worth is certainly impressive, it still pales in comparison to the net worth of non-Black actresses whom she is often compared to. Meryl Streep, for example, is worth anywhere up to $160 million. This disparity signals Hollywood’s pay gap for people of color, in particular Black women like Davis.
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