Viola Davis Covers The Wrap. Talks Colorism and Sexuality in Casting.

Corina Marie Howell


Shot by Corina Marie Howell, Viola Davis looks ravishing in red on the cover of the latest issue of TheWrap. In the accompanying interview, the actress spoke candidly about her How to Get Away With Murder character Annalise Keating, in terms of representation and race in film and television.

[…] when you do see a woman of color onscreen, the paper-bag test is still very much alive and kicking. That’s the whole racial aspect of colorism: If you are darker than a paper bag, then you are not sexy, you are not a woman, you shouldn’t be in the realm of anything that men should desire. And in the history of television and even in film, I’ve never seen a character like Annalise Keating played by someone who looks like me. My age, my hue, my sex. She is a woman who absolutely culminates the full spectrum of humanity our askew sexuality, our askew maternal instincts. She’s all of that, and she’s a dark-skin black woman. Some people who watch TV have acknowledged that and understand that. But I encourage you to search your memory and think of anyone who’s done this. It just hasn’t happened. I hear these stories from friends of mine who are dark-skin actresses who are always being seen as crack addicts and prostitutes.


Corina Marie Howell

Corina Marie Howell

Corina Marie Howell


Images and Quote via TheWrap.