Viola Davis: Young actors need to work hard

Viola Davis

London: 'How To Get Away With Murder' actress Viola Davis has slammed the "entitlement" of young actors who expect to be superstars overnight.

Viola Davis

The 50-year-old actress said she can't understand why aspiring thespians turn down roles because they are not their ideal projects.

Davis said they should accept everything while honing their craft as they will never be "superstars" without a body of work behind them, reported Femalefirst.

Asked what advice she'd give aspiring actors, she said, "The first thing I want to tell them is it's a hard balance to do this now. To dream big, but also to be realistic.

"I think that what young people do is entitlement. I'm sorry, I will say it and I know this is horrible, but I don't understand people who turn down work who haven't done anything.

"I don't understand actors who want to be Denzel (Washington) and they haven't even been out there for a year. They have nothing on their resume. I don't get it.

"I have a 30-year career. This show has come to me after being on Broadway three times. I don't know how many plays I've done regionally. I don't know how many TV shows and movies I've done. I've lost track.

"Work begets work. That's how producers choose how to hire you. If you have nothing there, they're like, 'OK, I don't know who that is.' And I get so many young actors who want to be superstars from the very beginning. They want to get that Oscar straight out of the gate and they want to be on the A-list and that's it."