Actor Viola Davis is styled by Catherine Newell-Hanson in 'Strong Statements', lensed by Virginie Khateeb for Porter Edit March 2, 2018./ Hair by Jamika Wilson; makeup by Autumn Moultrie

Viola Davis speaks with honest, compelling and carefully-chosen words, as if every moment before an audience or interview readers is precious and not to be squandered over frivolous small talk. "Authenticity is her rebellion," Viola Davis tells Ajesh Patalay.

When she won an Emmy in 2015 for her role as law professor Annalise Keating in ABC's hit series 'How To Get Away with Murder', Davis didn't bask in the achievement of being the first black woman to win an Emmy in the Lead Actress category.

Instead Davis quoted her heroine Harriet Tubman: “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So here’s to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes – people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black.”

As blunt as Viola Davis is, she is also so warm and loved by many people. Meryl Streep is a very close friend, although not referenced in this interview, which is Davis being 100% candid bad-ass.

Has playing voracious lawyer Annalise changed the way she sees herself sexually? “Yes, and it’s been a painful journey,” she says, laughing, presumably because these sex scenes often take place across desks and up against walls. “It costs me something,” she continues, more earnestly, “because very rarely in my career – and in my life – have I been allowed to explore that part of myself, to be given permission to know that is an aspect of my humanity, that I desire and am desired. I always felt in playing sexuality you have to look a certain way, to be a certain size, to walk a certain way. Until I realized that what makes people lean in is when they see themselves. There’s no way I am going to believe that all women who are sexualized are size zero or two, all have straight hair, all look like sex kittens every time they go to bed and want sex from their man, all are heterosexual. I am mirroring women. I always say it is not my job to be sexy, it’s my job to be sexual. That’s the difference.”

This entire Porter Edit Viola Davis interview is very much worth the read. Seize the moment.