A version of this story first appeared in the print edition of TheWrap Magazine’s Emmy Comedy-Drama Issue.
When Viola Davis stepped on a Philadelphia set to shoot the pilot for a new Shonda Rhimes drama in 2013, strutted up to a chalkboard and said the line, “This is Criminal Law 100–or as I prefer to call it, ‘How to Get Away With Murder,’” little did she know that the show would thrust her into the Emmy race two years later. But she probably wouldn’t have been fazed even if she’d known: The veteran actress had already won a Tony and become only the second African-American actress, after Whoopi Goldberg, to be nominated for Oscars in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories (for “The Help” and “Doubt,” respectively).