Can You Guess Who This Kindergarten Girl Became? — Photos

"The only picture I have of my childhood is the picture of me in kindergarten," the actress reminisced during a candid interview.

For years, that heartbreaking image remained one of the few surviving reminders of a little girl who grew up surrounded by poverty, pain, and rejection long before she became one of Hollywood's most respected stars.

Born in a one-room shack on her grandmother's farm in South Carolina, where her grandfather worked as a sharecropper, the actress and New York Times bestselling author spent much of her childhood in Rhode Island alongside her five siblings.

What Life Was Like Growing Up in Poverty

According to a PEOPLE interview, the family struggled with hunger, condemned housing conditions, and racist bullying at school. "The only picture I have of my childhood is the picture of me in kindergarten," she recalled. "I have this expression on my face — it's not a smile, it's not a frown."

Life at home was often brutal. She revealed that rats were so common in their apartment that she had to go to sleep with rags tied around her neck to keep them from biting her at night. The star also admitted, "I was the kind of poor where I knew right away I had less than everyone around me."

But even amid the hardship, she refused to believe that struggle would define her future. "I chose from a very young age that I didn't want that for my life," she said.

How She Navigated Complex Family Dynamics

During a candid 2019 interview, the actress opened up about her complicated relationship with her father. She revealed that he struggled with alcoholism and violence during her childhood. "I mean, just to be honest, my father was an alcoholic, he was violent, but then he went through this transformation," she admitted.

But she also shared that he later apologized to her mother and remained supportive until he died in 2006. She recalled:

"He was always there for us, always rooting for us, always told [] me how proud he was of me. He would say, 'I'm so proud of you, daughter. I love you so much.'"

Despite the hardship, she still remembers moments of joy from those difficult years. "There's always moments of joy [sic]," she explained.

The Little Girl Found an Escape Through Acting

Acting became her escape at just 8 or 9 years old. In the same interview, she explained that she and her sisters constantly created homemade performances while growing up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The siblings wrote skits together, staged rehearsals, and even joked about having "rewrites" and a tiny "wardrobe budget."

"We wrote a skit, and we actually had rehearsal[s]. We actually had a signed producer and director, [and] we had rewrites. My mom and dad gave us the run of their closet. We had a wardrobe budget of two dollars and fifty cents."

That passion eventually changed her life forever. She earned a scholarship to Young People's School of the Performing Arts, later studied theater at Rhode Island College, and was eventually accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.

Still, success did not arrive overnight. The actress admitted she internalized rejection for years and struggled with feeling invisible in Hollywood. "I feel like in the beginning of my life, how I handled rejection was I personalized it for me," she explained. "I wasn't attractive, I didn't have a commercial look."

That Little Girl Became Hollywood Icon, Viola Davis

That little girl eventually grew into none other than Viola Davis. Just three years after graduating from Juilliard, Viola earned her first Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in August Wilson's "Seven Guitars."

She later won two Tony Awards — one for "King Hedley II" in 2001 and another for "Fences" in 2010 — while steadily building her career through television and film roles.

By 2009, Viola earned an Academy Award nomination for her unforgettable performance in "Doubt," despite appearing in only one powerful scene. The performance instantly captured Hollywood's attention and helped launch her into a completely new level of fame.

According to her IMDb profile, Viola later became one of the most celebrated actresses in entertainment, as she also won an Emmy Award throughout her groundbreaking career.

She also made history as the first Black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for "How to Get Away With Murder." Yet despite the awards and worldwide fame, Viola has admitted that the little girl from that kindergarten photo still lives inside her.

In an interview, she emotionally reflected on how differently she sees herself now:

"I gotta go back and heal my little girl," Viola said. "The little girl who grew up in poverty, who was called names and ugly all the time."

But over time, her perspective changed. "Maybe you need to allow the little girl to be excited at the 54-year-old she gets to become," she added. "Because actually she did pretty good, she was a survivor, she got out of it." Beyond her career, Davis has focused on her family life. In 2011, she and her husband, Julius Tennon, adopted their daughter, Genesis.

What Lessons Viola Davis Teaches Her Daughter

Over the years, Viola has spoken openly about raising Genesis with confidence, accountability, and a sense of self-worth. According to a PEOPLE feature, the actress admitted she is the softer parent while Julius is usually the stricter one in the household.

"He has two beautiful children and seven grandkids," Viola explained. "I came into a relationship where he already had children and grandchildren and raised his kids on his own, so he's tough — he toes the line, but in a very loving way … He holds [Genesis] accountable. Me, not so much."

In the same PEOPLE feature, Viola also shared the deeply personal lessons she hopes to pass down to her daughter as Genesis enters her teenage years.

"You have to start right now to have a radical love affair with yourself, to be in touch with your inner voice, what you like, what you don't like, what's crossing the boundaries, and you honor that," she said.

The Oscar winner added that she never wants her daughter to feel pressured to shrink herself for others.

"If I have to be small in order to build up a relationship, I'll make myself small. If I have to sacrifice my needs for others — that's a big one for women, we are considered stronger when we sacrifice our needs," Viola Davis said. "I said, 'Genesis, no, do not do that. You are the love of your life, you and you alone.'"