Viola Davis's 12-Year-Old Daughter Genesis Has Already Made Her Big-Screen Debut

Viola Davis is, to put it lightly, an icon. Not only is she an EGOT – or an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner – but she’s also had major roles in some of the most talked-about movies and shows of the past decade or so, including “The Woman King” and Ben Affleck’s “Air.” She’s also worked hard for many philanthropic and activist causes over the years. As it turns out, she’s already passing her love for acting down to her daughter, Genesis Tennon, who made her big-screen debut in a voice-acting role in 2019’s “The Angry Birds Movie 2.”

Here’s everything we know about budding star Genesis.

Genesis Tennon

Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, welcomed Genesis via adoption back in 2011, as People reported at the time. In 2017, Davis opened up to the publication about her daughter, saying her love for Genesis, now 12, “surpasses anything that I could want from the material world.” She told People, “I empower her to understand that she has to count it all as joy. Even her mistakes, her failures, her triumphs, what she looks like, all of it. That’s all a part of her loving herself, even if none of those things change.”

More recently, Davis opened up about how motherhood has been a healing experience for her. “I feel about Genesis the same way I feel about myself when I look at myself when I [was] younger,” she said in an April 2022 interview on “The Today Show.” “I think it’s a great opportunity to grow and even learn about me, because I have to give her affirmations – every day I do it,” she continued, saying she tells her daughter that “your heart and your head are the two most important things in your life,” “I can give you everything, everything that I know, but it’s still going to be hard,” and “mommy’s going to love you more than anyone is ever going to love you – even the love of your life.” After sharing her words of wisdom, Davis added that she’s really also “telling it to myself.”

Genesis is Davis’s only daughter, while Julius has two children from a previous relationship. As she’s grown up, Genesis has made occasional appearances with her parents and pops up on Davis’s Instagram from time to time, and now she’s quietly starting a young career of her own! Check out a few of the cutest pictures the family have shared of Genesis with her parents.

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