When asked what made her character Annalise so interesting to viewers, Davis responded, “I felt like there should be something in each episode for women to look at and feel like it was familiar.”

Specifically, she addressed the scene in which her character sat down and took off her wig.

“Well, I didn’t want to be the Vogue woman. I didn’t want to be the woman who came in with the sexualized – I say sexualized, not sexy, because sexy is a certain self-consciousness to sexuality – I say that Annalise is sexual. Every time you see that sexual, mysterious, kind of cold woman, she always looks like she has that blow-dried hair and that dewy skin and, you know, those Double-Zero clothes. I did not want to be that woman because I don’t know that woman. And I’ve been watching that woman in movies for several years. And I felt like this was my chance to woman up.”

She went on to talk specifically about how unusual it was to get a role like Annalise because of the restrictions for actresses of her age, weight and skin color.

Viola Davis