Viola Davis won the Cecil B. DeMille Award ahead of the 2025 Golden Globes

Before the festival honored the biggest movies and TV shows of the year Golden Globe Awards 2025, Viola Davis was honored with the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award.

The actress, 59, was honored at the Golden Gala: A Celebration of Excellence at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Friday, January 3rd. The Cecil B. DeMille Award is named after the late director and recognizes outstanding contributions. to the world of entertainment. Since its inception in 1952, the award has been given to 69 honorees, making Davis the 70th recipient.

“I was born into a life that just didn’t make sense. I didn’t fit in. … I just wanted to be somebody. I wanted some of those little gold nuggets,” Davis remarked while accepting the award, per Variety. “What I had was magic. I was curious. I could teleport—I could get out of this worthless world and give him some relief now and then.’

Davis went on to say that her “curiosity” led her to begin her acting journey. “I was curious enough to know that not only could I conjure and inhabit these people, but I knew what they could give me,” she explained. “What could I find in all these lives, what could somehow rain down those golden nuggets from Gordo and give me that and give my life meaning.”

Davis ended her speech on a heartfelt note, stating that her younger self would be “screaming” at her accomplishments. “He’s standing behind me now, reaching for my clothes.” She’s wearing the same red rubber boots that she wore in rain or shine because they made her feel purple,” she told attendees. “He’s screaming. He’s saying one thing. He’s saying, ‘Let them listen.’ He whispers, “I told you I was a wizard.”

Davis wore a V-neck silk pink dress to the Golden Gala, which she followed up with a dramatic black gown with multicolored glitter on the 2025 Golden Globes red carpet at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday, January 5. She posed alongside her husband, Julius Tennonwho donned a classic black tuxedo and white shirt. During the ceremony, she took the stage to introduce I’m still here‘with Fernanda Torres with appreciation for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

The Golden Globes announced Davis as the recipient of the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award in November 2024.

“Viola Davis is a personality whose profound talent constantly shifts the lens through which we see and understand film,” Helen Hoehnepresident of the golden globes, he said in a statement at that time. “Awarding her the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award is not only an honor, but also a reflection of our admiration for her tireless dedication to her craft and her monumental impact on the industry. Viola’s courage in portraying complex, powerful characters broke barriers and paved new paths, making her a symbol of excellence and an ideal recipient of this prestigious award.”

Davis responded to the news via Instagram at the time he wrote: “Excited! Amazed! Honored! Thank you @GoldenGlobes. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.”

During her career, Davis was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and won Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. Fences in 2017. Her remaining nods were for her work in Doubt, Help, How to get away with murder, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A female king.

Davis is also an EGOT winnerwhich won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and two Tony Awards. In January 2023, she opened up about her passion for her craft and explained what the EGOT honor means to her.

“I think everyone wants their life to mean something,” she told Grammy.com. “I believe in the Cherokee birth blessing, which is, ‘May you live long enough to know why you were born.’ I believe you want to literally punch a hole in this world however you can.”

She added: “A lot of people don’t know how to do it. A lot of people haven’t found that thing they’re passionate about doing. Some have. But we’re all looking for it, blowing a hole in this earth before we leave it. I think about this a lot in my work. I really found a thing that I like to do. So I always want it to make sense.”