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The 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards - Show

Source: Jerod Harris / Getty

Viola Davis delivered a powerful message during her #SeeHer speech at the Critics Choice Awards last night. The Oscar nominated actress, who scored a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal in the August Wilson play-turned-film ‘Fences,’ used her platform to squash mainstream media’s concept of beauty.

“When I was handed Annalise Keating, I said, ‘She’s sexy, she’s mysterious.’ I’m used to playing women where I’ve got to gain 40 pounds and wear an apron,” Davis explained referring to her critically-acclaimed role in ‘The Help.’ “So I said, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to lose weight. I’ve got to learn how to walk like Kerry Washington in heels. I gotta lose my belly.’ And then I asked myself, ‘Well, why do I have to do all of that?'”

Davis added, “I truly believe that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are, and I just recently embraced that at 51.”

Davis also took the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress thanked her co-star Denzel, “The leader, the captain, Denzel Washington, who said the two scariest words and actor can hear, which was ‘Trust me.’ And that’s usually because you can’t trust a lot of people with a performance in this business. But we trusted you and you delivered.”

Davis is favored to land an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her portrayal in ‘Fences,” which hits theaters on Christmas Day.

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