Let’s
continue with my Rising sign guessing series for famous people. (Side note: I
know, I know. I still need to finish my Jupiter in the houses series and I
will. Don’t worry) There are many celebrities out there who have an unknown
birth time and my curiosity just can’t help but wonder what their Ascendant is.
Guessing Ascendants is becoming a bit of a hobby of mine and when I do it, I
look at it in a holistic way: their appearance, their demeanor/behavior, how
they describe themselves or see themselves, and also how that particular Rising
sign would affect events in their life or other placements in their chart. In
each article, I will make a guess for both a man and a woman; whoever I find
interesting enough and know enough about to take a stab at.
VIOLA
DAVIS
Born on
August 11, 1965 in Saint Matthews, South Carolina
Sun in
Leo, Moon in Aquarius
Suspected
Ascendant: Sagittarius
Estimated
Birth Time: 2:10 PM
Viola
Davis is one of my favorite actresses. She just recently won the Oscar for Best
Supporting Actress (which was her third Oscar nomination) for her performance
in Fences, which she also won the
Tony Award for when she starred in the Broadway revival in 2010. Aside from
famous roles in Doubt and The Help, audiences also know the
powerhouse performer for her starring turn in the hit series How to Get Away with Murder as shady,
complicated lawyer and professor Annalise Keating, for which she won the Emmy
Award for in 2015.
Nobody
knows Viola’s birth time, so I am interested in taking a crack at it. My gut is
telling me that she is a Sagittarius Rising for various reasons. First off, her
whole vibe and appearance does scream Sagittarian. She is a woman with a huge
smile and an infectious enthusiasm. It goes beyond the warm, magnetic charisma
of her Leo Sun. Those with the Ascendant in Sagittarius seem to fill a room
whenever they are in it with their larger-than-life energy. Viola’s interviews
are never boring and whether she is seriously discussing her character or
having a silly chat on a talk show, there is something about her energy that is
so “big”. It’s no wonder she’s such a dynamic theatre actress.
The best
way to describe people with a Sagittarius Ascendant is that they look as if
they can hardly suppress all of that energy of theirs. They always seem on the
verge of a smile, a laugh, a hearty joke, or an awesome story. And when they release
that energy, as they inevitably do, often times through their smile or their
laugh, it makes a giant impression. Think of Michael Fassbender, a Sagittarius
Rising who is well-known for his wide grin (which is regularly compared to a
shark’s) or Mila Kunis, another person with this Rising sign who always comes
off as irrepressible fun. The same goes for Viola. Her laugh is so full-bodied
and her nature seems so candid and often times downright blunt but in that
utterly endearing way that only Sagittarius can pull off.
Also,
the story of one’s birth does speak volumes about the Rising sign. In an
interview, Viola stated that her mother always told her that, when she was born,
which happened in a one-room shack, “all the aunts and uncles, everybody was in
the house, just drinking, laughing, and eating… She said, ‘And then when you
was born everybody was yelling and cheering. Jumping up. I was eating a
sardine-tomato-onion-mustard sandwich.” The scene that was set when Viola
entered the world sounds very jubilant, overwhelming, and enthusiastic, a la
Sagittarius, and also pretty cavalier and casual. This, then, influenced how
she viewed and approached life from then on out. From the sound of the story, a
birth time of about 2 PM sounds accurate because it seems like a sensible time
that all of her relatives would be gathered together.
Speaking
of family, the background that Viola comes from was not an easy one, to put it
lightly. She has spoken numerous times of growing up in severe poverty. With
this chart, she would have her Saturn in Pisces in the 4th and conjunct the
Nadir (to the exact degree, if using this exact time). This seems so fitting
because 4th House Saturn people usually come from tough upbringings. In some
way or another, there is this fundamental feeling of lack in the home that the
child grows up feeling like they have to compensate for. If the sense of lack
does not come from losing a parent or them not being around (usually the dad), it
comes from growing up poor. It definitely sounds like Viola falls into the
latter category.
She has
told the story, numerous times, of sleeping with scarves around her neck as a
child so rats wouldn’t bite her in her sleep. Food was scarce to come by and
the family regularly wondered how they were going to make ends meet. “When I say
we had nothing, I mean zero,” she said. “I remember one time a friend came over
to the house and she opened the refrigerator. There was nothing in it. She
said, ‘Are you guys moving?’” Often times, they relied on help from their
relatives or other families. All of this speaks to the combination of the
Pisces Saturn in the 4th. Not only suffering through a difficult home
atmosphere but feeling victimized because of it and having to rely on what
might be deemed as the “charity” of other people.
Also,
since Saturn represents the serious issues one has with their father and the
lessons learned because of it, it’s no surprise that Davis’ father, with Saturn
in Pisces, was an alcoholic and an often violent one at that. With Saturn being
in the 4th, this regularly turned the household into a place of chaos or sadness.
She claims she is at peace with the struggles of her upbringing, saying she
never harbored ill will toward her now-late father, who changed his ways and
repented, in a sense, in his last several years.
However,
with a 4th House Saturn, you are also rooted in the difficult elements of your
personal history. You always feel deeply connected to the unhappy or put-upon
child you once were and it gives you a strength and self-sufficiency that
sustain you. In Viola’s case, with Saturn in Pisces, her painful personal background
makes her the artist she is, allowing her to easily access that loneliness or
anguish and have great empathy for the characters she plays. Her husband,
fellow actor Julius Tennon, once perceptively said of her, “She is never far
away from that little girl she talks about. She has never forgotten her.”
And it’s
interesting because Saturn directly opposes her Virgo planets: Venus, Uranus,
and Pluto all conjunct in Virgo. With this chart, she has this stellium in her
10th and conjunct a Virgo Midheaven. Again, this seems very fitting for her.
Venus conjunct Uranus and Pluto in Virgo in the 10th, and on top of the
Midheaven, shows that Viola is meant to become a public figure who acts as a
critical, intelligent voice for change and progress. The opposition from Saturn
in the 4th in Pisces means that she is very rooted in her strength and the
compassion that stems from that strength. Her background of being poor, being
an observer of abuse and pain, of being badly bullied for being black and
dark-skinned gives her the rock solid foundation of empathy needed to go out
into the world and call people to task for inequality and injustice.
Viola is
famously outspoken about representation of people of color in Hollywood and the
lack of opportunities for actors of color, especially dark-skinned
African-American women. She has repeatedly said that getting the part on How to Get Away with Murder, complete
with more than a few racy love scenes, was so refreshing to her because she was
tired of playing maids or drug addicts or the best friend. “I don’t see anyone on
TV like me in a role like this. And you can’t even mention Halle Berry or Kerry
Washington,” she proclaimed, referencing their light skin tone. And also that “it’s
time for people to see us, people of color, for what we really are:
complicated.”
Her Emmy
speech in 2015, which made her the first black actress to win Best Lead Actress
in a Drama Series, included a quote from Harriet Tubman (“In my mind, I see a
line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful
white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line. But I can’t
seem to get there no how”) and the caveat that “the only thing that separates
women of color from anyone else is opportunity.” But, Viola has succeeded in
breaking down many barriers. She is the most Oscar-nominated black actress to
date and is also the first black actress to win the “triple crown” of acting:
the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony, for film, television, and theatre, respectively.
Both Uranus and Pluto succeed at breaking down barriers, in their own way.
Uranus does it by going against the grain and Pluto does it by being empowered.
With the combination on her Virgo Midheaven, though, Viola is a very grounded,
humble revolutionary.
All of
these planets conjunct her Midheaven do speak to the power of her public image.
Uranus on the Midheaven makes her something of an anomaly, defying expectations
and carving out her own unique professional path. She is unafraid to refuse to
conform when it comes to Hollywood standards for actresses, particularly physical
ones. A famous scene in an episode of How
to Get Away with Murder shows her removing her make-up and wig, looking
startlingly unglamorous and it was all her idea. Pluto on the Midheaven gives
her acting such power and intensity. Viola has a way of profoundly moving
people even when she’s not acting. She can express such deep passion for her
craft and her characters in interviews, as well as profound insights into life
and human nature. And her award speeches are so evocative that they can
virtually move you to tears.
Also,
although she claims that Annalise is the first “sexualized” character she has
played, Venus being on the Midheaven means that the world does have a great
appreciation for her beauty and sensuality. Sometimes, I can gauge people’s
view of a celebrity’s Midheaven just by looking at YouTube comments. Many people talk about how beautiful Viola is, about how perfect her
complexion is, etc. As a Venus in Virgo individual, she has a tendency to
underestimate her appeal and attractiveness, when, in actuality, most people
think she’s pretty much flawless. The Virgo Midheaven also reveals itself
through her most famous roles, whether it’s of the maid Aibeleen in The Help, the highly efficient and
intelligent lawyer Annalise, or in her breakthrough part in Doubt; a seemingly thankless, 10-minute
part alongside Meryl Streep. But, for the Virgo Midheaven, work is work and
there are no small parts. Her humility and dedication shone through.
Other
things also convince me of this chart for her, such as her close friendship
with Meryl, whose Gemini Mercury and Mars would fall into her 7th House (the
house of romantic partners and close friends), the fact that she would have an
Aquarius Moon in the 3rd House and that she seems to have had a very buddy-like
relationship with her siblings, as well as felt like a total outcast in grade school,
and her having a Gemini North Node in the 7th, which seems to be explained by
how deeply fulfilled she felt after meeting her husband, ending many years of
being unhappily single, and how he does seem to very much be her “other half”
and partner in crime.
You are freaking amazing !!! I always get supper happy when post something much love to you ππ
ReplyDeleteAmazing actress! Glad you chose to do her next!
ReplyDeleteCan you do Michelle Obama ??
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was thinking of doing an article for her. I have a feeling she's Sagittarius Rising, too, or maybe Gemini.
DeleteOMG my favourite Viola!! So funny you feel she is a Saggi rising, because my initially feeling was that she could be a Gemini rising. Her sense of humour & energy is well-lauded, she's very funny as all her HTGAWM cast-mates always say, and she has a mischievousness in her starkly regal outer bearing (Leo) and she has great oratory ability which looks lot more Gemini than Saggi. Her speeches also elicit such emotional reactions & they're deeply heart-felt, her Oscar speech didn't leave a single dry eye!! All of this to me points to Gemini than Saggi..
ReplyDeleteI don't think she's Gemini Rising. Those with Sagittarius Rising have a really awesome sense of humor, as well, but in a different way. Gemini humor is kind of dry, quick-witted, silver-tongued. Sagittarius humor is more so just being silly and loving to laugh. Viola seems more like that to me.
DeleteAlso, her great speeches and oratory ability would much more likely come from a Virgo Midheaven. That would make her very articulate on her public platform and very known for having an intelligent way with words. And with Pluto there, her words have an intense impact on the public.
She said in an interview that she was born in the afternoon. So I guess a Sagittarius ascendant is a good guess.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing analysis, i've never seen one with so much detail!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you could do Domhnall Gleeson? He's a taurus dominant but he definitely doesn't give me this vibe from his interviews...
Hey, thanks. And I actually know very little about him. But, I loved Ex Machina! Maybe I could do a bit of research and make a profile for him one day. I just like to stick to famous people I'm very familiar with so my guesses are as informed as they can be.
Deleteid always thought Scorpio Ascendant cos she is soo intense and comes across as powerful.
ReplyDeleteSagittarius ascendant makes sense too
Sag rising especially cos of how she was born
ReplyDeleteDo you mind doing Kerry Washington too