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Viola Davis wins best supporting actress Oscar for ‘Fences’

Viola Davis won an Oscar on her third try on Sunday, for her acclaimed supporting role in Denzel Washington's big screen adaptation of August Wilson's searing play "Fences."

The 51-year-old, a nominee in 2009 and 2012, bested a field that included two past Oscar winners — Nicole Kidman (“Lion”) and Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”) — as well as Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”) and Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”).

“O captain! My captain! Denzel Washington, thank you for putting two entities in the driving seat — August and God. And they served you well,” she said, appropriating a verse from US writer Walt Whitman.

In “Fences,” Davis plays the wife of a bitter, frustrated garbage collector in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, who has to come to terms with the missed opportunities of his past. 

The Oscar is the crowning achievement for a dominant awards season for Davis, who also took home the Golden Globe, a Bafta, the Screen Actors Guild prize and a number of other honors for her work. DM

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