Viola Davis to Receive the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2025 Golden Globes

Published by
Share

The Golden Globes announced today that EGOT-winning actress, producer and Golden Globe winner Viola Davis has been named the Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree for 2025. Davis earned her first Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress in the film adaptation of August Wilson’s screenplay, Fences, in 2017 opposite fellow Cecil B. DeMille winner Denzel Washington.

First created in 1952 and honoring the eponymous director, the Cecil B. DeMille Award has been bestowed on 69 honorees drawn from Hollywood’s greatest and most iconic talents, including Walt Disney, Jack Warner, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey.

“Viola Davis is a luminary whose profound talent has continuously shifted the lens through which we see and understand film,” stated Helen Hoehne, President of the Golden Globes. “Presenting her with the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award is not only an honor but a reflection of our admiration for her relentless dedication to her craft and her monumental impact on the industry. Viola’s courage in portraying complex, powerful characters has broken barriers and paved new paths, making her an emblem of excellence and an ideal recipient of this prestigious award.”

Davis is a critically revered artist, activist, producer, philanthropist, and New York Times best-selling author. She earned EGOT status through her Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and multi-Tony Award wins.  She was honored in 2017 by Time 100 as one of the world’s most influential people and, in 2022, was honored with the Public Counsel’s William O Douglas Award for her commitment to social justice causes. Davis has partnered with multiple programs to eradicate childhood hunger in the United States.

In 2012, Davis and her husband Julius Tennon founded their production company, JuVee Productions, with its focus on giving a voice to the voiceless through strong, impactful narratives. JuVee creates scripted and non-scripted television, film, documentary, theater, and digital immersive content for global audiences. It remains at the forefront of innovation, while developing and producing a library of socially relevant entertainment, defined by inclusion. A graduate of The Julliard School, Davis received an Honorary Doctorate during its 109th Commencement Ceremony and she also holds an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from her alma mater, Rhode Island College.

Davis, along with the 2025 Carol Burnett Award winner, honoring television achievements, will be feted at a gala dinner on Friday, January 3, 2025, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. For the first time ever, the Golden Globes will host a special evening dedicated to these two most historic awards. Davis will also be recognized on the 82nd Annual Golden Globes broadcast.

The 82nd Golden Globes will air Sunday, January 5, 2025 (8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/5:00-8:00 PM, live PT) on the CBS Television Network, and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).

Nominations for The Golden Globes will be announced on Monday, December 9, 2024.

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013. He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Recent Posts

2026 Critics Choice Awards Land Early January 2026 Date

The Critics Choice Association (CCA) announced today that the 31st annual Critics Choice Awards will take place on Sunday, January 4,… Read More

April 25, 2025

Adam Sandler in ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ Double Tyler Perry Headed to Netflix This Summer

This summer, Netflix is bringing summer to your living room with the long-awaited return of… Read More

April 25, 2025

2025 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations: ‘Death Becomes Her’ Leads with 12

The Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for… Read More

April 25, 2025

Cannes 2025: Short Films and La Cinef Lineup, Maren Ade to Head Jury

Selected from 4,781 films, 11 shorts will be presented this year in Competition. The selection… Read More

April 25, 2025

Trapped In a Loop: I Watched ‘Until Dawn’ Six Times in One Night and Survived…Barely

As soon as I got the email about the Until Dawn all-nighter contest, I knew… Read More

April 24, 2025

Golden Globes Set Mid-January Date for 2026 Awards on CBS

The Golden Globes has revealed the date for its 2026 ceremony, a full week earlier than usual.… Read More

April 24, 2025