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| Viola Davis pictured at the 2016 Critics Choice Awards |
Viola Davis makes history as the first African-American woman to receive three Oscars nominations.
Tuesday, Davis announced via Twitter that she would receive a nomination as ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for the movie Fences in which she stars alongside Denzel Washington.
Thank you to @TheAcademy for recognizing this extraordinary, important film and my work in it. Thank you Denzel for being at the helm! https://t.co/E7diniFqN1— Viola Davis (@violadavis) January 24, 2017
The record was previously held by Whoopi Goldberg, who held two Oscar nominations, one for “The Color Purple” in 1986 and “Ghost” which she won best supporting actress in 1991.
Making history is nothing new to Davis. In 2015, Viola Davis would become the first Black woman to win an Emmy for a lead actress in her role as Professor Keating on “How To Get Away With Murder.”
To date, Fences is Denzel Washington’s highest grossing directorial project. The film is also up for three additional nominees, including ‘Best Picture,’ ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Writing Adapted Screenplay.’
The 2017 Academy Awards is set to air February 26th on ABC.
