Viola Davis was honored at the Literacy Partners 50th Anniversary Evening Of Readings & Gala Dinner, which was held at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan on Monday.
The 58-year-old EGOT champ dared to bare her belly by donning a white crop-top with her ensemble.
Viola wore a white pantsuit featuring permanently scrunched sleeves and matching pants with a chrome clutch and pumps selected by styling duo Elizabeth Stewart and Jordan Grossman.
Hairstylist Jamika Wilson coiffed Davis’ dark curly fringed bob wig for the black-tie benefit.
Make-up artist Autumn Moultrie applied the Kung Fu Panda 4 actress’ smoky eye with false lashes, blush, and glossy Cabernet pout.
Viola Davis was honored at the Literacy Partners 50th Anniversary Evening Of Readings & Gala Dinner, which was held at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan on Monday
Viola proudly held up her Champion of Literacy trophy while posing in front of the venue’s waterfront view.
Davis – who dropped her Grammy-winning memoir Finding Me in 2022 – might be best known for her acting work, but she’s been quietly creating publishing companies.
The South Carolina-born thespian and her husband-turned-JuVee producing partner Julius Tennon launched JVL Media in April in order ‘to champion and elevate voices that resonate with authenticity and are often overlooked.’
The Air actors also invested funds into ALTR, an upcoming self-help app featuring short-form audiobooks from black luminaries, last month.
At 70, Julius is 12 years older than Viola, and they’ll impressively celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary on June 23.
Davis originally met Tennon way back in 1999 on the set of CBS series City of Angels.
On July 10, the Silver Dollar Road producers will celebrate the 14th birthday of their daughter Genesis Tennon, whom they adopted in 2011.
Viola is also stepmother to Julius’ two children – daughter Shevonda Tennon, 47; and son Duriel Tennon, 44 – from his six-year marriage to ex-wife #1 Sheryl Arnold, which ended in 1980.
The 58-year-old EGOT champ dared to bare her belly by donning a white crop-top with her ensemble
Viola wore a white pantsuit featuring permanently scrunched sleeves and matching pants with a chrome clutch and pumps selected by styling duo Elizabeth Stewart and Jordan Grossman
Hairstylist Jamika Wilson coiffed Davis’ dark curly fringed bob wig for the black-tie benefit
Make-up artist Autumn Moultrie applied the Kung Fu Panda 4 actress’ smoky eye with false lashes, blush, and glossy Cabernet pout
Viola proudly held up her Champion of Literacy trophy while posing in front of the venue’s waterfront view
Davis – who dropped her Grammy-winning memoir Finding Me in 2022 – might be best known for her acting work, but she’s been quietly creating publishing companies
The South Carolina-born thespian and her husband-turned-JuVee producing partner Julius Tennon (L) launched JVL Media in April in order ‘to champion and elevate voices that resonate with authenticity and are often overlooked’
The Air actors also invested funds into ALTR, an upcoming self-help app featuring short-form audiobooks from black luminaries, last month
At 70, Julius is 12 years older than Viola, and they’ll impressively celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary on June 23
Davis originally met Tennon way back in 1999 on the set of CBS series City of Angels
On July 10, the Silver Dollar Road producers will celebrate the 14th birthday of their daughter Genesis Tennon (M, pictured May 13), whom they adopted in 2011
‘I use beauty as a tool to help me embrace the joy in life and further my self love, and I feel like people see that radiating through. I work out, I put on a nice shade of lipstick – to please me,’ Davis told Harper’s Bazaar UK on May 28.
‘I take a bath every night, with my husband, and we sit in the tub and we laugh and we talk, we do facials. I tell him how pretty he looks, he says how beautiful I look. I love facials, acid peels, steam showers, red-light therapy, and drinking water.
‘Running around with my daughter keeps me feeling young and she makes me laugh – and I’ve decided I like my smile, so I want to laugh more. Feeling the sunshine – with sunscreen on, of course – makes me feel alive.’
On March 1, Variety reported that the L’Oréal brand ambassador had just wrapped her role as POTUS Taylor Sutton in Patricia Riggen’s G20 Summit-set terrorist thriller G20, which they shot in Cape Town, for Amazon MGM Studios.
Viola will reprise her DC Comics role as Suicide Squad commander Amanda Waller in James Gunn’s seven-episode adult animated series Creature Commandos, which will be ‘released later this year’ on Max.
On March 10, Gunn shared an update on Davis’ standalone spin-off Waller: ‘Waller’s still happening and Jeremy [Saulnier] and Christal [Henry] are hard at work writing great stuff, but the schedule was impacted by the strikes so Waller will come after [Peacemaker season two] in the larger order of things.’
The URI commencement speaker overcame an impoverished upbringing in Rhode Island living in apartments that were ‘condemned and rat-infested’ and she didn’t have a lot of friends.
Viola earned a full scholarship to Rhode Island College, thanks to federal program TRIO Upward Bound, and went on to graduate from the prestigious Julliard School.
Viola and Julius – who take nightly baths together – mingled with TODAY weather anchor Al Roker (L) and ABC News’ Deborah Roberts (2-L) at the party
Davis posed for a picture with fellow honoree Ethan Hawke (R), whom she’s never worked with before on stage or screen
The 53-year-old Oscar nominee – whose 1989 film Dead Poets Society scored him a cameo in Taylor Swift’s Fortnight music video – has published six books, most recently A Bright Ray of Darkness: A Novel in 2021
Ethan looked dapper in a classic black suit as he was joined on the red carpet by his second wife Ryan Shawhughes Hawke (L), who wore a black lace maxi-dress and patent leather pumps
Hawke originally met his 41-year-old producing partner (L) through his literary agent before he hired her on as a nanny during his five-year marriage to Gattaca leading lady Uma Thurman, which ended in 2005
The Wildcat filmmaker even took part in the silent auction while seated at table 20
TODAY weather anchor Al Roker (L) and ABC News’ Deborah Roberts (R) were both honored with the Spirit of Literacy trophies
60 Minutes reporter Lesley Rene Stahl took to the podium in a red sparkly gown to serve presenting duties
TODAY news anchor Craig Melvin donned a black velvet tuxedo to attend the gala with his wife of 12 years, Lindsay Czarniak, rocking a black sheer top and silver-sequin skirt
On Monday, Davis posed for a picture with fellow honoree Ethan Hawke, whom she’s never worked with before on stage or screen.
The 53-year-old Oscar nominee – whose 1989 film Dead Poets Society scored him a cameo in Taylor Swift’s Fortnight music video – has published six books, most recently A Bright Ray of Darkness: A Novel in 2021.
Ethan looked dapper in a classic black suit as he was joined on the red carpet by his second wife Ryan Shawhughes Hawke, who wore a black lace maxi-dress and patent leather pumps.
Hawke originally met his 41-year-old producing partner through his literary agent before he hired her on as a nanny during his five-year marriage to Gattaca leading lady Uma Thurman, which ended in 2005.
The Wildcat filmmaker even took part in the silent auction while seated at table 20.
