Viola Davis gets honest about career ahead of major milestone

Viola Davis is reaching her 60th birthday, and ahead of this milestone, she looked back at her life and career.

“It's only recently, really, that I've embraced the whole idea that I could mean something to someone,” the DC star told People.

“As I'm getting older, that gives my life meaning,” the 59-year-old said. “The only thing that means something in life is what you leave in other people.”

Her remarks come at City Year Los Angeles’ 14th annual Spring Break Gala on May 10.

“It's what you leave behind,” the actress said on the what is the purpose of life. “The cap of success, it wasn't it for me. I'm grateful for it, but it's not it. It doesn't make a life. There's no U-Haul in the back of a hearse.”

Describing her "cap of success," Viola said, “getting the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Tony,” which she said made her “sit in the swill for a minute, of the unsatisfying feeling of, ‘Is there something better out there?’"

She continued, “I always say that when you get an award, it's like a car. As soon as you walk off the stage, it depreciates in value, as soon as you make that acceptance speech.”

In her opinion, the meaning of life is “always simple,” adding, “I don't believe the quote that ‘he who dies with the most Toys wins.’ That was a famous quote in the ’80s. I don't believe that.”

Viola's latest film, G20 is streaming, while her upcoming film, Children of Blood and Bone, will be out in 2027.