‘How To Get Away With Murder’ Star Viola Davis Admits That Most Roles For Black Women Are 'Mammy-ish'

Viola Davis is the new star of ABC's upcoming drama How to Get Away with Murder, but she revealed that most roles for black women aren't the lead and just aren't very good.

In How to Get Away with Murder, Viola plays Annalise Keating, a defense lawyer and law professor who hires her top students to work at her firm to help her win different cases. The show revolves around these students and a murder scandal on their campus. The show explored who did it, who is involved and whether or not Annalise played a part in the crime.

 "It's what I've had my eye on for so long," Viola explained about her new role in an interview with The New York Times. "It's time for people to see us, people of color, for what we really are: complicated."

 Despite her starring role in the drama, Viola admits she's no stranger to small and "mammy-ish roles."

"I always got the phone call that said: 'I have a great project for you. You're going to be with, hypothetically, Vanessa Redgrave, Julianne Moore, Annette Bening,'" Viola told The New York Times. "Then I get the script, and I have a role that lasts for a page or two."

According to The Help actress, there aren't enough roles in Hollywood for black women. Yes, Kerry Washington (who is the lead in Scandal) and Halle Berry have had great careers, but Viola said they don't count.

"I don't see anyone on TV like me in a role like this ... a woman of color, of a certain age and a certain hue. And you can't even mention Halle Berry or Kerry Washington [who have much lighter skin]," she explained.

In addition to smaller roles, Viola admitted she is usually up for stereotypical parts, which isn't OK.

"I have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish. A lot of lawyers or doctors who have names but absolutely no lives, the Doubt actress said.

"You're going to get your three or four scenes, you're not going to be able to show what you can do. You're going to get your little bitty paycheck, and then you're going to be hungry for your next role, which is going to be absolutely the same. That's the truth."

Tune in to see Viola in her lead role in ABC's How to Get Away with Murder on Sept. 25.