Viola Davis started off her week in a glamorous hot pink pantsuit while accepting the Trailblazer of the Year award at CinemaCon.
The 56-year-old actress took to the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during Sony Pictures’ CinemaCon presentation on Monday evening.
She was helped present the trailer for her new film The Woman King, which she called her ‘magnum opus,’ slated for release on September 16.
Viola’s look: Viola Davis started off her week in a glamorous hot pink gown while accepting the Trailblazer of the Year award at CinemaCon
Davis stepped out with an elegant hot pink off-shoulder pantsuit as she took the stage on Monday night.
Her bangs dangled over her forehead as she spoke to the nation’s exhibitors during the annual convention, with bright blue earrings as she held her award.
She spoke to the convention about her new film The Woman King, based on true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey in Africa in the late 18th Century.
![Viola's look: Davis stepped out with an elegant hot pink off-shoulder pantsuit as she took the stage on Monday night](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052147-0-image-a-56_1650946730205.jpg)
Viola’s look: Davis stepped out with an elegant hot pink off-shoulder pantsuit as she took the stage on Monday night
![Award: Her bangs dangled over her forehead as she spoke to the nation's exhibitors during the annual convention, with bright blue earrings as she held her award](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052141-0-image-a-57_1650947705211.jpg)
Award: Her bangs dangled over her forehead as she spoke to the nation’s exhibitors during the annual convention, with bright blue earrings as she held her award
She told the crowd, ‘You know the five words I don’t want to take to my grave would be, “I was not brave enough.” That I didn’t risk discomfort, failure exposure.’
The actress also revealed that icon Cecily Tyson was her inspiration to become an actress, when she was just nine years old.
‘I just knew that when I was 9 years old and I saw [her] for the first time and saw that vision jump out of the screen, the radical power that gave me to believe in something bigger than my world, it touched down and landed in me and it landed in a generation of artists,’ Davis said.
![Brave: She told the crowd, 'You know the five words I don’t want to take to my grave would be, "I was not brave enough." That I didn’t risk discomfort, failure exposure'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052143-0-image-a-58_1650948196108.jpg)
Brave: She told the crowd, ‘You know the five words I don’t want to take to my grave would be, “I was not brave enough.” That I didn’t risk discomfort, failure exposure’
‘And I wanted to do that in my work as an actor I wanted to play characters that have never been seen before in a body that looked like mine… and be a producer who championed those stories with people, with a history that looked like me,’ she added.
‘There is a whole generation of people who want to be in the story,’ she said, while TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown talked about the ‘bada** women’ in the film and compared it to a real-life Black Panther story.
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood was also on hand, praising Davis for championing the movie, ‘like a general since day one’ as both a star and producer.
![Women: 'There is a whole generation of people who want to be in the story,' she said, while TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown (left) talked about the 'bada** women' in the film and compared it to a real-life Black Panther story](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052139-0-image-a-59_1650948270465.jpg)
Women: ‘There is a whole generation of people who want to be in the story,’ she said, while TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown (left) talked about the ‘bada** women’ in the film and compared it to a real-life Black Panther story
‘She is everything we believe her to be, and she kicks ass in this film,” Prince-Bythewood said on stage during the Sony presentation.
Davis plays Nanisca in The Woman King, the general of an all-female military unit in The Kingdom of Dahomey.
The Kingdom of Dahomey was considered one of the most powerful African states in the 18th and 19th centuries, with Davis starring alongside Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and John Boyega.
![Everything: 'She is everything we believe her to be, and she kicks ass in this film,” Prince-Bythewood said on stage during the Sony presentation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052133-10753675-image-a-61_1650948947364.jpg)
Everything: ‘She is everything we believe her to be, and she kicks ass in this film,” Prince-Bythewood said on stage during the Sony presentation
![New role: Davis plays Nanisca in The Woman King, the general of an all-female military unit in The Kingdom of Dahomey](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052135-10753675-image-a-60_1650948944788.jpg)
New role: Davis plays Nanisca in The Woman King, the general of an all-female military unit in The Kingdom of Dahomey
![Powerful: The Kingdom of Dahomey was considered one of the most powerful African states in the 18th and 19th centuries, with Davis starring alongside Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and John Boyega](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/26/05/57052137-10753675-image-a-62_1650948952145.jpg)
Powerful: The Kingdom of Dahomey was considered one of the most powerful African states in the 18th and 19th centuries, with Davis starring alongside Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and John Boyega
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