Tapping into one’s potential frightening: Viola Davis

Actor Viola Davis, who recently won the Golden Globe for her work in the film Fences, says that tapping into your own potential is “very frightening”.

Davis used to think if she puts herself down, it would make her look more “humble”. But now she realises it is important to show how confident she is of herself and of her abilities, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“I think tapping into one’s power and one’s potential is a very frightening thing. And for women, it’s a very new thing. It is. I always used to feel that self-deprecation was an answer to humility – that people would see me as a humble person the more I put myself down,” Davis told The Observer magazine.

“And people do say that, ‘Oh! I ran into so-and-so and they kept saying, ‘Oh, my work in this really sucked,’ and they were great! I just thought it was so refreshing that they said that! 

And I often think to myself, what if someone says, ‘You know what, I’m confident, I’m really happy about the work I did. I really felt like I gave it my best and it came out great,’ the same way men do. Why is that not seen as humble?,” she added.

She won the Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) at Global Globes for her role in Fences.