Viola Davis spoke to PEOPLE at City Year Los Angeles’ Spring Break Gala
The actress reflected on what gives her life meaning: “What you leave behind”
Davis will turn 60 in August
Viola Davis is keeping it all in perspective ahead of a milestone birthday.
“It’s only recently, really, that I’ve embraced the whole idea that I could mean something to someone,” the actress tells PEOPLE at City Year Los Angeles’ 14th annual Spring Break Gala on Saturday, May 10.
“As I’m getting older, that gives my life meaning,” adds the Oscar winner, 59, who will enter her sixties on Aug. 11. “The only thing that means something in life is what you leave in other people.”
Davis, who was an honoree at the City Year Los Angeles event at SoFi Stadium, posed for photos with her 10-year-old daughter Genesis, who she shares with husband Julius Tennon.
Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty
Viola Davis and Genesis Tennon at the City Year Los Angeles’ Spring Break Gala on May 9
“It’s what you leave behind,” says the G20 star when asked about purpose in her life. “The cap of success, it wasn’t it for me. I’m grateful for it, but it’s not it. It doesn’t make a life. There’s no U-Haul in the back of a hearse.”
Reaching the career milestone of “getting the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Tony,” adds Davis, is what she considers that “cap of success” — a moment that she says made her “sit in the swill for a minute, of the unsatisfying feeling of, ‘Is there something better out there?’
“I always say that when you get an award, it’s like a car,” she continues. “As soon as you walk off the stage, it depreciates in value, as soon as you make that acceptance speech.”
What gives life meaning is “always simple,” Davis concludes. “I don’t believe the quote that ‘he who dies with the most Toys wins.’ That was a famous quote in the ’80s. I don’t believe that.”
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Julius Tennon and Viola Davis at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘G20’ on March 27
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Also attending the City Year Los Angeles event were Yvette Nicole Brown, Mila Kunis, Leon Bridges, Juju Green, Rachel Leigh Cook and Quinta Brunson. The latter presented Davis with her honor onstage.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Brown, 53, says she was there to support Davis — “one of the greatest actresses of our time. But beyond that, she’s also very smart. She’s very kind. She’s an advocate for things that matter, and she always shows up for everybody else.”
Davis’ action-thriller G20 is now streaming on Prime Video. Among her upcoming screen projects is Children of Blood and Bone, due in 2027.
Read the original article on People
